Waiting. Waiting. Waiting……
I have been
waiting for so many things this year.
Some good. Some awful.
Waiting for my new
home to be complete enough to move into.
Waiting for the punch list completion (still!). Waiting to spend the night there
(finally did that on a 22 hour visit to Durham). Waiting for the rest of my belongings to be delivered from
storage.
Waiting for
airplanes and rental cars. Waiting
for doctors, nurses and aides.
Waiting for my mom who was moving more and more slowly. Waiting for my dad who is looking
harder for his words these days.
Waiting for the
next Advent candles to be lit—this year in three different churches in three
different states! I also enjoyed
the Advent wreath in my Maryland godchildren’s home and a lovely godfamily*
reunion there.
Waiting for Mom to
get better while praying, “God’s will be done,” and knowing Mom’s prayers were
for her trip to heaven to come soon.
Waiting for the
endless line of people to file past, hugging us and telling us how much they’ll
miss my mom. They were stopped
only by my dad insisting Mom would want her funeral to begin on time! He was right, of course. And we had followed her instructions to
close the casket so there was no danger of her sticking her tongue out at us!
I knew her prayer
book was marked and we had talked about her earthly death for years so I knew
how to plan the service and the day.
All our talking made the time so much easier as I stepped into the manager
role Mom always played in the past.
Talk about this! I promise
it doesn’t make death come sooner.
We’ve been talking about it for at least 35 years. I’m so thankful this time didn’t come
until I was old enough to really understand what Mom meant. I also saw clear evidence that my
brother had been unwilling to discuss it.
My answers to some of his questions were, “Mom would haunt us if we did
that!”
Amidst all the
other waiting, I am waiting, as we do every year for our glorious celebration
of the birth of Christ. I
especially look forward to celebrating with my St. Luke’s family this year.
Although we wait
to celebrate His birth, He’s among us now, each and every moment of each and
every day. In this time when I’ve
needed Him most, Jesus has made his presence known and felt. It’s been so strong I couldn’t possibly
have missed it. So many prayers
ascending on our behalf by friends all over the place! I pray the same for you, my
friends. Amen. Alleluia!
*If ‘godchildren”
is one word, my logic says “godfamily” is, too. In my book, a gathering of one godchild (her brother’s in
college!), two parents and four godparents is a “godfamily reunion”.
Written by Nancy Usher Williams
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