It’s the middle of December but it’s still technically fall. This is a debate in our house every three months. Brett says the seasons start on the first of March, June, September, and December. I insist the seasons don’t change until the equinox. That means winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21st. Some years the weather supports Brett with chilly temperatures, bare branches, and every so often a dusting of snow in the city before Christmas. But this year nature has taken my side. On my runs through Central Park I’m still seeing vibrant yellow leaves against bright blue sky. It seems that the trees took their cues from a jazz band this year. Instead of dropping their leaves all at once, they have been patient, waiting for their solo. As one tree stands up to show what she can do, the others step back, waiting until she releases her leaves and takes her seat before standing themselves to trumpet golds, crimsons, and ambers across the treeline. It’s made for a gloriously drawn out fall season.
When Norah was 5 or 6, she came out of her room on a December morning, sleep still in her eyes, and said, "This is Christmas jazz music." I asked her what about the music playing in the kitchen helped her know it was jazz.
"It's kind of crooked. And kind of juicy." I love that description of jazz so much. I still think about it all the time.
I think it describes this season we’re in right now too. It’s kind of crooked, not all the way back to normal, requiring us to still bend and adjust where we didn’t have to before. But it’s juicy too, like a ripe orange ready to dribble itself down our chins when we take a bite. There is hope on the horizon. The hard part right now is not knowing how long we will have to continue to wait for that hope to be fully realized. It’s been nice to let this fall season take it’s time, but not all waiting seasons are beautiful.
I’ve been thinking a lot about waiting lately. We talk about waiting every morning during Advent with conversations of a coming King. But I think I’m also in the midst of a season of waiting, still not really sure what’s next for me. To be honest, I thought I’d have found more of a groove four months into both of my kids being in school full time. This might be the longest I’ve ever gone with no clarity of what I want to pursue next. As I was preparing this letter, I revisited a talk I gave a few years ago for an event at my church. It’s called “Waiting with Hope”. Have you ever had a friend remind you of something you said that felt like you preached it right back to yourself? That’s what reading this talk felt like. It was just what I needed to hear during this season of waiting. So, instead of continuing to ramble about where I’m at now, I’m going to share that talk with you below. I hope it’s as helpful for you now as it was for me. Just keep in mind as you read that it was originally written for a group of women in New York City in a church setting. I’ve edited it down a little bit, but it’s mostly in it’s original form.
Here you go – “Waiting with Hope”.
This month our topic is “Waiting with Hope”, which I realize can come across as kind of vague at first. There are so many different kinds of waiting, some good, some hard, some exciting, some anxiety producing. No matter what, this is a topic we have all experienced before, likely are experiencing right now for something, and definitely will experience again.
Some of you are waiting for your wedding day and there’s already a ring on your finger. Some of you are waiting for the day you will meet that person. Some of you are waiting for a breakthrough in a hard season of the marriage you’ve been in for years. Some of you are waiting for physical healing for yourself or a family member. Some of you are waiting for the day you will get to see that family member who wasn’t healed on this earth. Some of you are waiting for a baby who is already being knit together in your womb and the due date is known by all of your family and friends and the nursery is set up. Some of you are waiting for that pregnancy test to finally read positive and that heartbeat to finally sound strong at the appointment. Some of you are waiting for a call back for that role you’ve dreamed of and some of you are waiting for the opening night on Broadway that you are already in rehearsals for.
So you can see that talking about waiting is tricky in a large room of women because you can look around and see women who already have what you are waiting for. And you can look around and see women who are still longing for what you already have.
On that note, let’s open our Bibles to a passage at the very beginning of 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1:2-5 &13
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
This passage reminds us where our hope lies. It doesn’t lie in the wedding or the baby or the job or the healing or even the reconciliation of a difficult relationship. The reason we have any hope at all in our waiting is because of Jesus. We are always going to be in a place of waiting on this Earth. We long to be with Him, for perfection and righteousness, to dwell with the one who truly knows us fully. All of the things we wait for now point to the waiting for Jesus. Is it healing? Is it a spouse? Is it children? Is it a job? Is it reconciliation?
So much of our hope is being stored in heaven for us. In some respect, we have to learn to live in the waiting game here on earth, because we will always have a sense of longing while we’re here.
Even Jesus, when he was on earth, was in a constant place of waiting. He knew the reason he was here was ultimately to die for us. And I think he felt all of the emotions in the waiting game that we also feel. He felt nervous, excited, grief, sadness, joy, everything.
But the reason he was able to wait with hope was because he was in constant communication with God. He was always praying. Even in his last moments, as he was waiting for God to take this cup from him, he was talking to God.
He was not focused on the thing he was waiting for – his crucifixion. Instead, he was always focused on His Father.
Jesus is our example of how to wait with hope. I want to break down three things we can see in Scripture that I think we can still do while we wait.
We can get still before God to listen, we can remember who God is, and we can surrender to his will.
First, let’s look at what it means to be still. Psalm 46 says “Be still and know that I am God.”
What I think we often forget is that this statement comes in a section about God being our fortress. The psalm starts out talking about natural disasters, about nations raging and kingdoms faltering. God reminds us that he is with us in the midst of all of this. He’s asking us to be still in the midst of trouble. I don’t know about you, but oftentimes the waiting can feel like a storm or a battle. It’s hard to be still with a raging heart. But that is what the psalmist reminds us to do here. Be still when it feels like things around us are falling, or maybe not moving at all. Be still when wars rage. God is an unmovable, unchanging God. When everything else feels out of control, He is not. He is in control. The Lord of hosts is with us. Be still and let him be God.
Being still reminds us that we don’t have to force the next thing. It allows us to focus on God and not our to-do list.
And that leads me to the second thing that is helpful to remember to wait with hope: remembering the works of God.
David starts Psalm 9 by saying, “I will give thanks to you Lord, with all my heart. I will remember your wondrous works.” One commentary I was reading noted that David wrote this in the middle of his battles. There may have been a break in them at the time, but he was certainly still anticipating, or waiting for more attacks. So it’s significant that he is pausing to not only give thanks, but also to remember God’s wondrous works.
Later on in the book of 1 Peter – in verse 3:15 the author tells us to “always be prepared to make a defense for the hope that is in you.” If you’re in a season of waiting, it often feels like you should be doing something. It can be hard to just be still when it’s a long season. This verse invites us to do something — to prepare. I think that’s what David was doing in that psalm. Remembering God’s wondrous works brings hope.
When people are curious about the hope in us, they probably don’t want to hear about what God did in someone else’s life – especially someone who lived thousands of years ago. They want to know what He did in US.
Remembering the things He’s done can stir up hope and prepare you to make a defense for the the hope in you. Practically, it also just gives us an action item and something to do while we wait.
When people ask you why you have such a good attitude about whatever the situation is, you can point to the places where God has been faithful and tell them, “This is what God has done in my life before. I trust that He will remain faithful. My hope is in Him and not in the outcome of this situation.”
The third thing I want to talk about is how Jesus teaches us to surrender to God’s will – and I think this requires us to be completely honest with God, like Jesus was.
When Jesus was in the garden, knowing he would soon be arrested, he asked God, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me – nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
I don’t know what you’re feeling in this season of waiting. Most likely, the waiting is paired with something. Maybe grief. Maybe excitement. Maybe frustration. Maybe sadness. Maybe confusion. Maybe anxiety. Maybe the opposite of patience.
No matter whether you're practicing stillness or you’re remembering the things God has done, the most important piece to wait with hope is to remain in prayer. To be totally honest with God about how you’re feeling about the situation. He will show up and minister to you.
I’m going to share one personal example of this for you.
A few years ago, I was in a season of grief after a miscarriage. As I was sitting with grief, it felt awkward to also have hope, but I did. So I just asked God one day how grief and hope could coexist. He laid these words on my heart. I’ll use grief, because that was what I was feeling in my waiting season, but you can replace that with whatever it is you’re feeling now.
Grief does not negate hope. It doesn’t change the fact that I was created with joy. Grief and hope can walk side by side, like good friends. Sometimes one friend is in the season of sharing while the other just listens. Right now, it’s Grief’s turn to talk. To be known, to be listened to and held and sat with.
Hope does not get up from the table. Hope is what allows grief to be raw and vulnerable. Hope is what my grief is held in.
Hope doesn’t leave because it lies in eternity. So you can feel whatever you want in the waiting, but if you trust Jesus and surrender to God, then hope will be there too.
Right now, my hope feels a little crooked and a little juicy. But it’s still there. I pray that yours is too.
I’ll see you back in your inbox in the middle of winter,
Jodie
P.S. One of my favorite days of the year is coming up. Our yearly planning day! This is a day at the end of December where Brett and I take a whole day to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next one. We talk about our budget, travel, goals, holiday traditions, things we want to do in the city, projects around our apartment or the cabin, people we want to invest in, and lots of other things. We’ve done this for almost a decade now and I’m working on a document to share with you in case you’d like to try something similar. I’ll send it out as a holiday gift in the next couple weeks. If you know someone who might like it too, just forward this e-mail to them so they can subscribe and it will show up in their inbox. I’m so grateful for your support this year!