Waiting

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated; and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground;  but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him.  He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more. ~ Genesis 8:1-12


Rivers know this. There is no hurry. We will get there someday. ~ AA Milne, (Winnie the Pooh)

I think maybe the hardest part for me had I been Noah would have not been the days of interminable rain, but rather once the rain had ended and it would be another 150 days before land was visible again. Those additional days had to feel like torment (poor Noah spent a lot more time on that ark than we were taught in Sunday School, yes?). 

It had to feel like an eternity.

Waiting has never been my strong suit.  I'm impatient on my good days, and anxious on my worst.  My temptation would have been to bolt from that ark as soon as the dove returned with that olive branch.  I suspect I'm not alone.  Three months ago we were able to say that we lived in an anxious, restless age.

Now we are living into that restlessness in a whole new way. Three months ago it felt like normal would return in a few weeks.

Now it feels in some ways as if it never will...and we haven't even hit Noah's 150 day mark yet!

It is good I think that the church has worked two seasons into its calendar for waiting: Advent and Lent.  Advent to wait for the light to come into the darkness, and Lent to wait with penitence for the suffering and death of Jesus, and finally for the empty tomb.  

Waiting is in our DNA as a church.

But it doesn't make it any easier. Especially as we wait to be with loved ones again. 

Especially as we wait to see what changes we just won't be able to go back from.

Noah teaches us to be patient.  To wait.  To hold out for true hope.  True light.  I'm pretty sure it would have been tough for me.  But the reward, for Noah dry land, and for us the reality of God with us, whether we are alone or together, is worth the wait.

Prayer: Patient and loving Lord, waiting is hard.  We aren't good at it and we don't like it.  But you have given us the one gift that is worth waiting for.  Help us us to treasure that gift when the waiting seems to feel too much.  Amen.