Leap! Wait.
What day is it?
I mean really. What day is it?
Anybody else get foggy in February?
Thirty days in a month. Thirty-one days in a month. That's what they taught me in kindergarten.
I love a rhythm. I L-O-V-E a routine. But February.
I always think it's a Leap Year. Always. I don't understand it. Is it every 3 years? Every 5 years? Every decade?
Still right now. Today. As I'm typing I have no earthly idea.
I wish it was a Leap Year.
When I think of leaping, I think of reaping. Something good has happened! Something pleasantly unexpected or hard fought for has FINALLY come to pass!
Leaping. Dancing. Shouting in the streets. (Any excuse to dance.)
Have you ever heard some news that made you leap inside?
You got the house! (Leap!) He really loves you! (Leap!) The job is YOURS. (Leap!) Your six-week old slept 6 hours and 6 minutes! (Leap!)
You know what I'm talking about.
Here's the conundrum: While leaping and reaping may rhyme, they rarely happen at the same time.
You dream a dream of a newborn baby swaddled tight and nestled in your arms. Perfect cheeks. Check. Curly Q. Check. Clean Diaper. Check.
Ten years later. You've been to every doctor. Tried every procedure. And still your arms are empty.
You're newly wed and things are perfect. You imagine a life of kisses, hand-holding, endless foot massages, long weekends, and romantic nights.
Two years in and where's your best friend? You can't even stand to sit in the same room.
You graduated. YOU did it! Four years of caffeine induced nights, hard work, laughter, tears, and all the rest. But IT is OVER! You are ready. Watch out world, here she comes! Leap!!
Four years later and the degree is packed in storage. Good thing you enjoy your mom's cooking. Because it's your menu, every night.
Hold up. Wait a minute.
This isn't how IT'S supposed to be.
Or is it?
There's a story of leaping that gets me every time. Maybe you've read it or heard it read. It's a story of one of Jesus' relatives. We know him as John the Baptist.
Before John drew his first breath in the world as we know it he took his first leap.
Mary had just come to terms with her assignment and calling and then, "A few days later she hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit."
Baby John took a full leap! He and his mother had met The One.
What a beautiful story. Only that's not the end.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
John was on mission from jump. Filled with God's Spirit in the womb, we find him next working and wading through the river. Doing the will of God.
But He had to wait. The glimpse of his life that we have in Scripture is just so intriguing.
I think John can teach us a lot about waiting.
Lesson #1 - While you wait - Do work.
John was not a slacker. Have you ever baptized anyone? I have. In an air-conditioned building with skinny jeans, earrings, and wedges on. It's work.
But in a river? In THE river? With a coarse camel hair polo on and a leather belt? Over and over and over again. While preaching without a microphone. And being challenged by so-called experts, day after day after day. That's hard work.
John didn't wait passively. He had a promise that The One he was waiting for would show up one day. That was enough to keep Him going and going and going.
Lesson #2 - While you wait - Expect to Wade.
Wading isn't easy either. John had to wade through water. He had to wade through doubt. He had to wade through his own expectations.
John finally met Jesus. In the midst of his working The One he was waiting for appeared. Ready, set, leap!
Not so fast.
John gets thrown in jail. Jesus let's it happen.
Wade right there.
John asks the question, "Are you the one we have been expecting, or should we wait for someone else?"
Can you hear it? That doubt? That fear? All alone with his thoughts working through them, back and forth, again and again. Is this what I was waiting for?
Sometimes when you get IT. It isn't what you expected at all. A barren womb. A broken marriage. A part-time job. What in the world?
Sometimes wading feels like drowning. It's not.
Don't get me wrong. It's difficult.
But God is bigger than difficult.
Lesson #3 - While you're waiting - Don't waste.
I wonder if John died wondering. When his disciples returned with words of encouragement from Jesus did his joy return? I wonder if he leaped again.
I don't know.
Time was up for John and at the end we find him questioning if what he had waited for had come to pass.
There's just no time to waste.
Here's a lesson I've learned time and again: Often what I'm waiting for isn't what God's waiting for. I need to wait with eyes wide open to what God is doing.
The last thing God's doing is wasting your time:
You're a foster mom! - But you are still a mom. Don't diminish your identity with a man-made standard. God is using YOU! (Leap here!)
You're stronger than before! - Learn from your mistakes. Help others that are hurting. You can do this! (Leap here!)
You haven't given up! - One more interview. Two more days. Three times a charm. You're NOT a quitter! (Leap here!)
God doesn't waste waiting.
Ask John. Ask Joseph. Ask Sarah.
Ask Jesus.
From Eden, to a womb, to the world, to the cross, then three days of waiting that changed everything.
God doesn't waste waiting.
Don't believe me? Just wait.