Watching and Waiting

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”– Micah 7:7

Today I woke up to a cardinal singing outside my house again.

I opened the window a crack and laid back down in bed. I like listening to the cardinal, so bright and cheerful, at 6:15 in the morning! A few days ago I was driving around and saw the familiar V-shaped formation of honking geese flying overhead, and something in my heart leapt with joy. I also saw a bunch of geese huddled on the ice out on the lake near my house. There is a fishing pier and an aerator that keeps the water flowing, so open water was visible, a dark grayish black area, and around it, the geese stood on their webbed feet, honking.

I felt joy because the winter has been long and returning geese means one thing: SPRING!

These signs of spring help us know what is coming our way. Soon, I’ll open my bedroom window and the cardinal will be joined by robins singing and geese honking from the nearby lake. On walks I have seen the snow melting and rivulets of water snaking under the ice chunks as I walk, flowing down into little dark pools. I wait for the buds to enlarge on trees and green shoots to sprout up.

I know what to expect when these signs show up, because I have experienced them year after year. All my senses are alert to look for these signs. But life can also be a mystery, where we don’t know what to expect. I have a son leaving for college this fall, parents whose health is faltering, signs and transitions in my household that I have not experienced, so I don’t know what to expect. I can only peer into the murky darkness months down the road, and surmise what life might be like (and it probably won’t be anything like I imagined).

I think that’s how it is with our journey with God. We have experienced many things and know what to expect in some aspects our faith life, but then life and the mystery of the Incarnate comes our way, with unfamiliar signs, and an unfathomable future, and we don’t know what to expect. We have not lived it before, but we cautiously take step after step forward into the next days, watching and waiting.

Watching and Waiting. Two things that are hard for many of us to do, but essential things in the Christian life.

Watching and waiting is what millions of believers have done over the centuries, and we are no different. God invites us to watch and see, wait and see. When we allow ourselves to do that, the mysteries become reality and we have our eyes opened to the Divine. In your life, won’t you watch and wait with me today? Let’s open our eyes and truly see what’s around us. Let’s look for signs of God. Let’s wait with expectant hope!

Prayer–“God of all life, we wait and watch expectantly for Your presence in our lives. Some signs we recognize, some we don’t. Open our eyes to see. Drive out fear and replace it with a fervent hope in our hearts. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”