wait for it

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

About four years ago, my brother and his wife were coming home to Athens for Christmas for the first time as a married couple. It seemed that they'd never make it out of the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

Despite an early arrival to the airport, a surprisingly expedited trip through the security line, and boarding at exactly the right time, two hours passed, they deplaned, and waited (im)patiently for “further information” from the airline.

They, like so many other holiday travelers, had packed up for ten days, managed to squeeze gifts for friends and family into their luggage, and longed for nothing more than to board the plan and get home.

And so, they (and we) waited.

Oh, the test of waiting! There are seasons in my life where the wait seems unbearable, or at best, annoying. I have worked, prepared, done everything in my power to do, only to be told, "Not yet."

Admittedly, those are pretty self-centered times for me, as I find myself demanding of when God will give me the answer I’m listening for, or the results that seem most agreeable to my plans.

Why isn’t this going the way I thought?  And when, for the love of all that’s good, will this fall into place?

And well, sometimes, the great Creator and Planner of our universe chooses to make us hold out just a little – or a lot – longer. He has more refining to do.

And so, we wait.

For believers, our life here on earth is, in many ways, quite the holding pattern. Naturally, we long for circumstances, opportunities, people, possessions, and answers. But I wonder if those temporal longings are sad, empty substitutes for our deepest, sincerest desire: a safe landing in our eternal home.

And so, we are waiting.

We are waiting to be without pain and sorrow, and dreaming of reunions with loved ones. We are waiting for our perfect bodies. A day where we spend our days in constant communion with our Savior. We await that place, where someone has spent what seems like forever preparing a place for us.

We are longing for ... wait for it ... Home.