Episode 123139: 12/25/25 Waiting Well: Worth the Wait

2:31 We should have a seat. So I'm sure we've all had the experience of, you know, we've been waiting this whole Advent. We've been trying to wait well. I imagine we've had this experience where the things that we waited for were kind of disappointing or maybe massively disappointing. I was just thinking, I was asking some of the people before Mass of just kind of like, are there any like TV shows, any movies or any kind of sequels that were like, you are so excited for this thing to come out and it was definitely absolutely like not worth the wait. And there were a number of things that were brought up, you know, TV shows that were just like, okay, here's the finale. And the finale is the most, the largest letdown you ever possibly could imagine. Or even the sequel, you're gonna wrap up this story and we're gonna, now we're finally gonna know. I mean, there was this TV show back in the day, I don't know if you remember this at all, called Pretty Little Liars. I am not a watcher of this show, Pretty Little Liars, but the whole thing was, who is A? The letter A, right?

3:23 The A is the person who's, I think they're murdering people. So this is kind of a dark thing to talk about on Christmas Day. But at the end of, I think, season one or two, like, oh, we found out who A is. And then season three is like, oh, that was the right person. Here's another person. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is not worth it. This is not worth the wait. There are things that we wait for, we anticipate, that we even try to wait well for, and we realize it's not worth it. You know, this entire, again, this entire season, this entire season of Advent, we've been talking about waiting well. And in fact, we've been talking about practical strategies or basically practical wisdom for waiting in general so that we know that waiting is not being passive. Waiting is being engaged with this moment, with this life. We know that waiting is not giving in to worry, but waiting is waiting with trust. We know that waiting is not just being in a rush or being in a hurry, but being patient.

4:17 And that we can actually, instead of complaining, we can praise God and find joy in waiting. We also know that we sometimes don't get what we wait for. but we can still rejoice. These are all general wisdom when it comes to practical wisdom, when it comes to waiting. But we have to ask the question, what have we been waiting for here? What is the point of Advent? What are we waiting for? We're not just waiting for the next step or the next thing or for the finale to be resolved. We're waiting for someone in particular. The whole point of Advent is Jesus. Well, the whole point of life is Jesus. I mean, but this whole time of waiting has been waiting for that promised Messiah, right? Waiting for the Redeemer, waiting for the Savior, waiting for God himself. We have the gospel today, and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

5:13 The question we have is, is that worth the wait? Like, is what God has done, is that worth the wait? Because think about this, from the beginning of the story, from the actually very first story. Here's Genesis chapter one and two, chapter three, everything falls apart. But in the midst of Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, verse 15, God promises, he promises that there is going to be one who crushes the head of the serpent. There is gonna be one who restores all things. And then the whole rest of the story is people waiting from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, to the judges, to the kings, to the divided kingdom, to the civil war, to exile, through all the whole entire story, all the way to Jesus. is that worth the wait?

6:03 I was thinking about, you know, this, think of right now, Christmas Day. I think a lot of us, we get really excited. I'm glad, we're glad we made it to today. We're glad we made it to December 24th yesterday, 25th right now, because we're excited about things. I mean, we, there are all the things we love about Christmas and we, all the things, all the fun, all the excitement, all the presents. I was reflecting on this as we got closer and closer to this day. What if we took away all those extra things? Like what if this season right now, we took away the songs and took away the movies? What if we took away the decorations? What if we took away the smells and the foods and the presents? What if we took away the fact that we get together, come together with people?

6:49 What if all those things that we love about this season, what if we took them all away and all we had was him? Like honestly, what if all we had on December 25th is just a holy day of obligation? What if that's what it was? We're told the church says, okay, we need to come and celebrate the fact that we have Jesus. Just come, it's holy day of obligation. Again, no songs, no decorations, no smells, no food, no special anything. Just a holy day of obligation on December 25th or we just celebrate the fact that we have him,

7:27 would that be worth the wait? I think it may be, but maybe not for all of us. I think one of the reasons why is because many of us have never had to wait for him. I was thinking about parents recently and just how many parents wait for and pray for children. And maybe even they get more than one. Same thing when it comes to your family. Maybe you have more than one friend or you have more than one sibling, more than one child. I was thinking about that because, you know, the reality is you only get one mom.

8:08 You only get one dad. and I personally am coming up on the third anniversary of my mom's death in February, and I always had her, you know? I always had this incredible blessing in my life. My mom was always there. I never, ever had to wait for her. I always just had her, and I think because I always had her, I just— I mean, people told me, like, you know, be grateful for your mom. Of course I'm grateful for my mom, but I kind of missed it, right? I always had her until I didn't.

8:46 And this is the truth about all of our parents. Always have your dad until you don't. Like that was the one you got. That was the one mom I got. That's the one dad you got. and there's not going to be another one it's kind of like what David says David at the death of his newborn son he says I will go to him but he will not come back to me I think sometimes we have the same perspective when it comes to Jesus. If you're raised as a Christian, no, there's never been a time when I haven't known him. There's never been a time when I didn't have him. I've never had, I've always had Jesus. I've never had to wait for him.

9:31 But what if you did? What if there was a time in your life where you might not get him? Would he be worth the wait? This happened to me last February. Last February, we were putting on a Valentine's Day retreat weekend. I'm not sure if I shared this before, but putting on a Valentine's retreat weekend out in California. And the retreat wrapped up on Saturday. And I needed to get back. I needed to get to the airport in time to get back in time for mass on campus here on Sunday. And so, you know, I looked at Google. And Google told me that it would take me like roughly an hour and 15 minutes to get from the hotel to the airport. And then I talked to the person on the front desk. And I said, no, no, no. it's it's gonna be like two and a half hours to get from here to the airport and i'm like you're not as smart as google i'm gonna trust google and i was wrong i was dumb because i got it so i lollygagged right i kind of just talked to people and stuff and i was like i'll go now because whatever get in my car type in google well google caught up to the front desk guy and said actually it's gonna take two and a half hours you have to you know that that little that that little thing on your google maps that says when you're gonna arrive yeah i was sitting in the parking lot still and that I said I would arrive as my plane was boarding so I was like oh my gosh here we go I spent the next two and a half hours because it was it was right Google is wrong next two and a half hours in the most anxious stress-ridden drive of my life I alternated between like saying okay God I thank you I praise you to like hitting the seat next to me just like in this utter like panic calling and saying we are there alternate flights okay maybe I can take like an overnight flight multi-destination kind of a airport stop to in order to get to mass no priests were available in town, all of this chaos, all this. And so I get there. I had a rental car. Ridiculous. Why did I have a rental car? Because I had to drop off the rental car. I asked the guy, do I need my keys?

11:14 He's like, no, just throw them in there. Take off. I'm like, where do I go? Where's the tram? He says, that way. So I'm running. I'm racing up these stairs. Get to the tram. Wait. Okay, I have to wait. The tram's going to come. Get on the tram. Nine stops. It was nine stops between where I got on in the rental place to the terminal. So I'm like, okay. Once again, alternating between like, Lord, your will be done to like, oh my gosh, what's happening? Finally get to the terminal, race. I get to TSA. How was that guy? I was completely that guy who was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my plane's taken off. I'm sorry, you know, Minnesotan. I'm so sorry, sorry, my plane's taken off. Got through, people got out of the way. They're very, very nice. Then ran, and ran the whole way, all the way to the gate. And I kept thinking, I should stop, I should walk. Like, no, you cannot stop and walk. You have to get there. I got to the gate as they were saying, this is the final call, we're closing the doors. And I was like, oh my gosh, I got on the jetway. And you guys, I was so overwhelmed with relief. I was so overwhelmed with joy. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude.

12:06 I sat down on the plane. And I'm not a talker on the plane. Like, I'm not here to visit with anybody. But the guy next to me, he's like, hey, how are you doing? Like, let me tell you a story. Like, I am. The whole saga, and then I'm just so grateful. Praise the Lord. Because the thing is this. For the next number of weeks, like truly, even now, almost a year later, I think about that, and I am, like, this sense of gratitude, this sense of thankfulness just bubbles up. Why? because I look back on that and think if only one thing was different, I would have missed that flight. If I would have waited just a little longer, I would have missed the flight. One more red light, I would have missed it. If only one thing was changed, if the guy said, actually, you need to sign something for your rental car before you go, I would have missed the flight. If I would have got to the tram and saw it taking off and had to wait for the next one, I would have missed the flight. If people hadn't got out of my way, I would have missed the flight. If I didn't run, I would have missed the flight. If only one thing was different, I would have missed it.

13:01 So again, I just, once every day, every moment I thought of this, I just thought, oh my gosh, that was my one chance. And I made it. This is Christmas. Here is Jesus. He's our one chance. If even one thing was different, we would be lost. if Abraham hadn't been faithful, if Isaac hadn't been faithful, if Jacob hadn't been faithful, if Ruth hadn't been faithful, if Naomi, her mother-in-law, hadn't been faithful, if Deborah hadn't been that faithful judge, if Mary, our mom, hadn't been faithful, if one thing was different, we wouldn't have him. but we haven't. And so we're grateful because he's worth the wait.

13:57 You know, that's the proper response, right? The proper response to this moment is gratitude. Like to be here, to do what we're doing, to be praying. The proper response to this gift is thankfulness. Here at mass, and of course, like every moment, every movement, every minute we think of this is just to be thankful. I also know this though. We also know that the best way to thank someone for a gift is not just to say thank you. The best way to thank someone for a gift is to actually use the gift. I'm thinking about all the people who will receive presents today. They can take the present from their parent and say, well, thank you very much and then put it away or give it away. But the best way to thank someone is to use the gift.

14:39 The gift that you might not have gotten, but here it is. What's the gift? We have access to the Father. Because of Jesus, we have complete access to the Father's heart. Because of Jesus, we have new life in the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus, because of this gift, we can live a life of power and of love and of self-control. Because of this gift, we have the opportunity to live the relationship. And this is the last thing. I think you've waited well.

15:11 And I think that he's been worth the wait. But what now? Just a little over a week ago, a friend of mine got married to a husband. And This is a gift. This marriage, this vocation is a gift that not only has she been praying for for years, but she's been commanding me to pray for her for years. and see how she finally has the gift she'd been waiting for.

15:55 So she has gratitude and he has gratitude. But even more than that, what are they called to do? They're called to use the gift. What does that mean? They're called to live the relationship. It's not just about, okay, got married on such and such a date. It's, okay, now I get to live this. and then the joy, the challenge, the invitation of every single day is how can I live this relationship, this relationship that I waited for, this relationship I prayed for, this relationship that I longed for, how do I live this relationship in a way that recognizes the depth of the gift?

16:30 So that's what she and her husband are doing now in week two of being married is asking that question, how do I now live? the reality of this gift. And that's what we get to do here on Christmas Day. We have longed for him. We've prayed for him. We've waited for him and now we have him. The best way to thank God for the gift of his son is to use the gift. The best way to live now is to live that way.