For approximately 38 weeks/ 266 days/ 6,384 hours I have been waiting for the day when my second son, Lord willing, will enter the world and rest in my arms. When I think of all the praying and tears involved in asking God to give us a second son for the year and a half before this pregnancy ever started, I realize that I have been in this waiting game for a very long time. While I have been ever hoping that the day would draw near very quickly, it is closer than it has ever been right now, and I am more “expectant” than I ever was before. Thus the day draws near consuming my thoughts and my mind. I have dreamt about it often and spent hours preparing for this little one’s arrival. So, the house is clean, (for now) the baby bed ready, my hospital bag is packed, but I am still eagerly waiting while this babe kicks my ribs incessantly, waiting while he makes me waddle like a penguin, and again, still waiting while he constantly gets the hiccups making my abdomen jump in a hypnotic rhythm.

To wait…why must we wait? What is the significance of waiting? I couldn’t figure out why God kept bringing that word to my mind for the last few weeks except for that I was impatiently waiting to have this child. As I continued mulling over the concept of waiting, I became even more annoyed with the passivity of it. To wait involves very little doing of anything. Here I am, the object (a very large round uncomfortable object) at a standstill, anticipating the arrival of something completely out of my control. Being as stubborn as I can sometimes be, it took me an entire week until I finally sorted through the Bible and to try and  figure out what God might be trying to teach me. Sure enough, this very fitting passage struck a chord with my heart.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Romans 8:22-25

There are so many things that we are waiting for. We wait for good things like the perfect soul mate or the best job opportunity. We wait for other things, though less willingly, like for our lives to fall apart, or for the inevitable face of death to send us spiraling into an oblivion of sorrow. Yet, in the scriptures, I was surprised to see how connected the word “wait” is to “hope.” The two are almost synonymous with one another because scripture is clear on what we are supposed to be waiting for, the Lord. He should be our focus and hope in this life, the thing we eagerly anticipate.

What I’ve learned about my life, particularly my family life with my husband and first son, is that so much of our relationships are shadows of our relationship with the Creator. Through my husband, I have learned a deeper meaning of the love that Christ has for me. Through my first son, I have experienced our Father’s heart for His children. Now, through this time of waiting on my second son, I see how eagerly we should be waiting on the Lord for His glory to be displayed in our lives. We inwardly groan amidst the pains in this life, but our hope is still in the Lord. We await the day when we will see God face to face and be welcomed by Him as sons and daughters through the blood of Christ. Until then, we can meet with Him in this sense of eager expectation during the quiet of the night or the dawn of the morning. We can simply be in His presence ready and waiting for Him to inspire, to guide us through the days ahead because soon His renewing spirit will birth something spectacular inside of us whether it be insight into His character or new direction for our lives as long as we are attentive, listening, and consistently waiting on the Lord.