Take a moment to use your imagination.
Imagine a newly married couple. Across the room you can see a fire roaring while Christmas carols play in the background. To their right is the tree they chopped down the previous day and decorated. They are sitting close together as they get ready to play a game.
Now, using your powerful imagination, zoom in a little bit more. You'll notice the couple is wrapped in blankets. That there is an oil heater between them. And that the roaring fire is really just the fireplace channel that they have put on in hopes of warming up.
Friday evening husband and I returned home from work to discover our furnace had stopped working. We got someone in that night. But he couldn't fully fix it. So we were told it would get fixed the next day. After a lovely little fiasco on Saturday, someone did come, only to tell us what had been diagnosed the previous day as a problem wasn't the problem. So they had to order a part but we were told we would have heat the next day. The next day rolled around (this would be the wrapped in blankets with the fireplace channel on day), only no part and no technician showed up. After three nights and going into what is now our fourth day without heat, I am patiently waiting for the technician to show up with the part and fix our furnace. He should be here any minute.
This wasn't quite the weekend we had anticipated having. My sister-in-law and her husband were up for the weekend, so it was supposed to be a time of getting and decorating trees, playing games, and just visiting.
Instead, husband and I spent most of the weekend waiting for furnace guys to show up.
It was still a good weekend. On Saturday morning we went with my in-laws to go chop down Christmas trees. I have only ever done this once before (two years ago with a friend), and have never actually had a real tree (can't decorate them as early as fake trees ;) ). So this was pretty exciting for me. After having coffee, husband and I returned home to wait for our technician. We set up the tree and decorated it. It is resting in our bay window and in my mind it looks perfect!
Saturday night we went back to Jordan's parents' place to have dinner and spend time with the family. We then got a not-so-nice call from the tenants that resulted in our having to leave and return home. I think I have done better this weekend with showing grace than I did the other week with the recycling bins.
Sunday was frustrating. It wasn't that many posts ago that I shared my excitement for advent. Between being sick one week and having to wait for a technician the next, I have thus far missed the first two advent services.
I have never enjoyed the waiting game. Knowing there is nothing you can do to make something come faster. Knowing your hands are tied and all you can do is wait. But there is often a great deal to be learned through the process of waiting.
I know a lot of people who are waiting. And they are waiting for a variety of things. Some for guidance and direction for the future. Others for a special someone. Still others for children. I have a picture that I moved with me across Canada that is hanging in our hallway. It is of a bench in a park.
Almost ten years ago I felt like God gave me the word "waiting." As such, benches have become symbolic to me.
Waiting is hard. It hurts. It usually means you are being strengthened and stretched and those are never fun things to go through. I hate waiting. Ask my sister what I get like if I have to wait too long for someone to get ready.
But now I think of that bench in the middle of a park. Waiting is not fun and it is not easy. It is horrible to not know what you are waiting for, or when what you are waiting for is going to come, or even if it will come. It tears you up inside. It leaves you feeling abandoned and alone and cold. But there is something about that bench that brings peace.
There can be peace is the waiting.
Jordan and I have gotten pretty frustrated this weekend. But we have also prayed. And I think what has struck me the most is how every time we come to God we leave thankful for what we do have. We don't have heat and we're freezing. Our tenants don't have heat and they're freezing. But we have a house. We have the ability to get our furnace fixed. We were still able to get our Christmas tree. We could still spend time with our family. Despite everything going on with the furnace, it is still cheaper than they originally thought it would be. And we still have each other.
We have had to wait. But we are learning to be thankful. We are learning to see the ways that God has blessed us and is still blessing us even as we wrap ourselves in blankets and turn on the fireplace channel.
I realize no heat might seem little compared to what other people are waiting for. And maybe you will read this and feel like I have no compassion for what you are going through and I don't really understand. And in some cases you're right--I probably don't understand. But I do believe there is peace in learning to give thanks in every circumstance.
And so, as I continue to wait on the technician to show up, I will continue to give thanks. I will thank God that I had a house to clean this morning and the supplies to clean it with. I will thank God that I could get up and have breakfast with my husband before he went to work. I will thank Him for the grace He has given me in dealing with our tenants this weekend. I will thank Him for reminding me to turn to Him during this time.
I will give thanks, and while I wait I will rest in the peace that He is Immanuel.
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