Every child in the weeks leading up to Christmas will agree with me on one thing . . . waiting is the worst! Between the time a child writes out their Christmas wishlist and Christmas morning when they can finally open their presents, it feels like an eternity has passed! Though time seemingly passes slower for children than it does for adults, I believe that some of us, even as adults, still struggle to be patient.
There are many things in this life which we wait for. Some of us may be waiting to hear back from a job application, or waiting for the holidays to finally come around, waiting on results from an exam, waiting for their whirlwind Hallmark romance or waiting on news from our doctor. All of us are waiting for something. This time of waiting can often be filled with a sense of dread, anxiety or concern and it can even feel like a heavy weight is weighing us down . . . perhaps that is why it is called ‘waiting’ (“weight-ing”).
When I was young, I remember writing out a list of things I wanted for my birthday (but being a Christmas article, let’s just pretend it was a Christmas wishlist instead). It was a very detailed list! I had written down the description of each item, the stores where each item could be bought, links to each item online, photos of the exact style and colour of each item I wanted, and the price value next to it. I was very thorough! I knew exactly what I wanted and I was determined to get it! As a disclaimer, I was not normally this exacting with my wishlists, but in previous years I’d asked for things which were unrealistic and never received the things I’d asked for, so this year I was determined to get everything.
Finally, the day came around. I was filled with blissful excitement as my eyes pored over the brightly wrapped gifts laid out before me. Glimmering bows, bright colours, shiny paper. . . . As I slowly gazed at each gift, I started to recognise the shapes of items I had put on my wishlist. As I picked up each gift to unwrap the paper, I guessed what the gift would be before opening it and began mentally checking off items. To my great astonishment, I managed to correctly guess every single gift I received before opening them!
As exhilarating as it was to guess each item correctly, I came away from that experience surprisingly disappointed and deflated. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the reason why—after all, I had received everything I’d asked for! I should be overjoyed! Yet a lingering flatness remained.
For a few days I pondered over this strange experience, and slowly it began to dawn on me what had happened to leave me so underwhelmed: in guessing every present before I opened it, I had taken away my own wonder and joy in being surprised. I realised that a big proportion of the joy of giving and receiving gifts is actually in the suspense and anticipation of the unknown.
This got me thinking about waiting in an entirely different way.
For a long time, I hated the suspense of the unknown. I hated not knowing what God had in mind for my future. Being a naturally anxious person, I wanted some kind of assurance that things would turn out okay, or that the difficult experiences I was going through would come to an end: Loneliness. Depression. Anxiety. Back injury. Low self-esteem. Isolation. Neglect. Trust Issues. Trauma. Church politics. Unreciprocated love. Heartbreaks. Chronic stress. Burnout. For someone only 25 years old, I feel like I’ve lived through too much, while also feeling like my life has not yet really begun.
After years of trying experiences, Bible verses like Jeremiah 29:11 were starting to ring hollow for me. Did God really have a hope and a future for me or was this hope and future only to be found at Jesus’ second coming? I wanted to know for certain that there would be a rainbow after my storms, not just more rain. Waiting became a chore and a burden instead of a source of excitement and hope.
But recently, I heard something which made me shift my mindset towards waiting. Someone asked, “If you knew that whatever you were waiting on God for would be resolved in a week, a month or a year, would you wait differently?” When we wait for things, whether known or unknown, the attitude with which we wait makes all the difference. HOW we wait matters. We can choose to wait for things with an attitude of frustration and impatience, or with excitement and hope.
I realised that my anxiety and worry over the future was unwarranted if I understood that God was the expert gift giver. He knows the burdens and desires of our hearts and seeks to give good gifts to His children. And perhaps the best gifts are those which carry a degree of uncertainty, being wrapped in the element of surprise.
God strikes a very delicate balance between providing us with something to look forward to and not spoiling our joy and anticipation in the period of waiting. God gives us many promises in His Word which we can cling to for assurance that we do indeed have a bright future, but God will not tell us what is inside every wrapped gift. Instead of giving us a detailed list of what to expect in the future, God gives us the gift of hope. Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The wonderful thing about God’s gift of hope is that it has a firm foundation. Christmas is evidence of this secure hope, guaranteed through the descension of Christ from the throne of heaven to the manger in a stable, becoming a human marred and blighted by the curse of sin and dying the death we deserved so we might live the life He deserved. Jesus entered into our humanity, brokenness and hopelessness in order to give us true hope for our future, in this life and in the life to come.
Whatever you are waiting on this season, whether it be a heavy burden or a heart’s desire, may you take this positive attitude towards waiting and rest in the hope which God gives. This hope is the true gift in our times of waiting. Trust that God does have a plan and a future for your life, but don’t try to unwrap every gift before its time. . . Choose to wait differently, being filled with joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit, understanding that God’s gifts are worth the wait.
Olivia Fairfax is an assistant editor, Adventist Record.
