December 1

“Biblically, waiting on the Lord is never passive; it is always active.  Waiting requires us to cease our own pursuits and give God our complete attention.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 11/10

I didn’t realize just how much I thought waiting for something was passive.  I’m so used to “doing”, as in forging ahead, that to be passive felt like sitting still with my hands folded in my lap.  I see now there is much to do while sitting there.  First of all, I can work on my thoughts about having to wait.  Then I can see if there is some old business I need to take care of before I can move forward.  For instance, I want to have more friends and relatives come to visit next year.  This desire is not based on reality.  Our families live all over the country and seldom visit.  We have no friends we regularly get together with now.   My plan is to invite everyone to whom I send my annual Christmas letter.  Whether or not they accept the invitation will be in God’s hands entirely.  Several things must happen, though, before that first visitor arrives.  I must be emotionally prepared to give up some of my privacy I’ve grown accustomed to.  I also must make sure any hard feelings I may have about their not coming to visit me in the past have been cleansed out of my heart.  Then the doing part can begin....getting my house cleaned and prepared to receive guests will take some time.  If I were to wait until that first visitor is due to arrive I could not possibly be ready to receive them.  As I wait upon the Lord to do His work in their hearts, I have to get busy!

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...”  2 Peter 3:11, 12a