By Tiffany Nesbitt — 
It’s been a doozy of a year.
Not to acknowledge our current reality would be akin to ignoring our morning coffee ritual: although going without that caffeine shot might be a delightful freedom, most of us just can’t move through the day until that demand is satisfied.
And there’s a genuine need for each of us to speak what’s in our hearts: 2020 has been _________ (you fill in the blank). But in spite of the hard truth of the past twelve months, here we are, standing tiptoe again on the threshold of Advent. Quieting our hearts to catch its whispered hope.
Prepare. Make room. The coming of the King is at hand!
So we enter into the waiting of Advent. But the truth is, 2020 has been a year of waiting. Waiting for test results. Waiting for jobs and doors and hearts to open. Waiting for fear to pass and life to reignite with all the goodness we’ve taken for granted.
Haven’t we waited enough to fill more than a few lifetimes?
Friends, there’s a swell mounting on the horizon!
Any decent surfer can tell you that the key to catching an epic wave is the ability to recognize the swell. It’s that almost imperceptible bump far out on the surface of the water, indicating the building momentum of millions of gallons of water. And as the water crests, the moving tide creates a ride which thrusts the surfer forward, whooping with joy.
It’s time for us to fix our eyes on the swell of hope which is building. Because the circumstances of our lives, they were never meant to define us. They’re simply a homing beacon, blazing a trail to the truth of the hope that is always building, always coming to catch us. This is the very heartbeat of Advent.
Jesus, Savior of the World, come to earth. God Incarnate, wrapped in flesh for us.
Isaiah admonishes us in Isaiah 40:31, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
The Hebrew word qavah, the one we translate as the english word wait — it can also be translated as hope. To wait is to hope. So we choose to wait afresh for the coming of the King, confident that as we do, our hope is built like an ever-increasing wave, carrying us forward into the strength which only He provides.
Jesus, we wait with eager expectation for you.
