Between the "Now" and the "Not-Yet"

Greater theological minds than mine have come to this understanding. We live our entire lives as disciples of Jesus Christ hanging in the balance between what we presently live with in this broken world and our yearning for the Kingdom yet to come. I do believe that Christ's kingdom is at one and the same time a present reality and a future promise. However, forces of evil do permeate much of our world. While we have the ultimate hope in the Kingdom that is yet to come, we certainly gain mini-glimpses of the Kingdom in our daily lives if we have eyes that are open to it.

Lately, I have come to realize that this concept of waiting for the "not-yet" is not merely something that applies solely to our eternal hope in Christ. Rather, it is something that is fairly cyclical in nature. We start practicing for this understanding in our earliest days of childhood. Watching Joey has reminded me that patience is learned (or more often NOT learned) by having to wait for things that we want to happen. Joey, like all children I know, is fairly determined to get what she wants and has a difficult time understanding when mommy or daddy says, "not yet" or asks her to wait. I am sure she will eventually grasp this lesson, but until then she lives in that moment between the present and the future reward for her patience.

In 41 years of life I have also been faced with numerous experiences of this constant tension between the now and the not-yet. Waiting to find the right avenue of service for Christ... Waiting to find the right woman to marry... waiting to find the right house to make our home... waiting... waiting... waiting... How much of our life is just a cycle of waiting for things to move along. So many times in my life, I have felt like I am in a "holding pattern" of sorts, just waiting to land. Or to carry that air travel analogy a bit further, more accurately, it seems that much of my life is spent sitting on the tarmac waiting for clearance from the tower to take off. Until then I sit with my engines idling.... knowing that above the cloud deck blue skys are there to be enjoyed. Until then, I keep my engines tuned up and turned on just waiting for the tower to speak the word.

On this Thanksgiving eve, I am finding things to be thankful for... but I know that there are even brighter days coming, both in the short term and for eternity. I am learning again that there is always a part of me that is torn between the now and the not yet... I yearn for the day when the "not yet" becomes the "now".