I Will Wait For You

One of my favorite love songs as of late is Mumford and Son's I Will Wait.  By public standards, it may not be a love song, and it never mentions the word love, but I think letting someone know that you will be waiting for them is one of the greatest expressions of love.

A few weeks ago, at my church group we discussed what it means to "bring someone into tomorrow."  The discussion was derived from a book by Henry Nouwen called The Wounded Healer.  The chapter we discussed depicted a discussion between a man going into surgery and a chaplain.  The man going in to surgery had no one waiting for him at the other end of his surgery.  He had no one to go home to.  He had no one on the other side of his trials or his pain.

That is what we need - someone to wait for us.  Someone on the other side of the canyon that we are standing at, that holds to the promise of simply being there.  Think about how much of a difference it makes, after a long, trying day, when you come home to an empty home vs. a home full of people you know and love.  The latter option is the one I find more desirable.  It is the comfort of being received that melts away some of the trials.

We have this promise in Jesus: He will wait for us.  He is the one standing on the other side of the trials of this life.  He is waiting to receive you in Heaven.  I am reminded of this when I take communion.  At the last supper, Jesus sits with His disciples, passes around the bread and the cup.  As he passes around the cup that symbolizes His blood to be shed for us, He tells His disciples:

"I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Matthew 26:29

Jesus makes His journey to the cross.  Those that came to crucify Him offer Him wine.  He turns it down.  It may have seemed like such a small promise - just to avoid a sip of wine - but it is a great gesture of love.  His promise holds true: He will wait for you.

Jesus waits for us on the other side of this life.  In this life He has given us people that wait for us on the other side of our earthly struggles.  That is His love poured out through others.  Who waits for you?  Who do you wait for?  That is simply love.  Just being there in someone's tomorrow, that is love.  That is a way that we can allow Christ to work through us.

~SP