“Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on the object we’re waiting for” (Charles Stanley).

“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

“God always gives his best to those who leave the choice with him” (Jim Elliot).

Waiting is still hard, but the more you value the object you’re waiting for, the more willing you are to wait for it. Right now, I’m already thinking about Christmas. I saw where Christmas Day is 218 days away.

But I can wait. Because Christmas is officially my favorite holiday. It’s worth waiting for. Plus, there are so many good days in between that help the waiting part.

Life is like that. You can keep your eyes on the thing you’re waiting for and also appreciate the multitude of good things that come your way in the meantime. You can hold out hope for the future while still being fully present in the moment.

At the heart of every hope that we long for and wait for is God Himself. He’s the ultimate fulfillment of every longing and desire. And one day we will no longer know by faith because we will see with our own eyes what we’ve been waiting for all along.

Years ago, I read a book with a fascinating premise. Basically, the book said that only one person has ever lived a normal Christian life — Jesus Christ.

By normal, I don’t mean what passes for Christianity in our culture where all you need to be saved is to recite words in a prayer and where there’s no need to show evidence of a changed life as long as you can remember the date you prayed that prayer.

Normal Christianity is biblical Christianity. It’s dying to self. It’s taking up your cross and following Jesus, no matter what the cost. It’s turning the other cheek. It’s loving your enemies.

Normal Christianity is what you find in places where Christians are persecuted and even killed. Their hopes aren’t based on getting the right people elected or getting the right laws passed. They don’t base their moral and spiritual values on a majority vote or what the media tells them.

At the end of the day, don’t strive to fit it. Don’t strive to be like every other American believer. Strive to be like Jesus. Strive to be normal.

For me, the looking forward to waking up part isn’t so much the case. It’s more like I get the coffee to endure waking up so early. At least these days I wake up after the sun is already up. Trying to function when it’s still dark outside is rough. Putting on pants before 6 am is always hazardous to my health.

But then there’s coffee. Coffee makes everything better. Plus, I tend to do better work with my eyes open. Also, talking with other people works better if you’re not asleep. I think that at least 50% of my personality comes from coffee.

I’m thankful for the person who decided to take coffee beans, smash them and put them in hot water. Whoever it was deserves his or her own holiday. I mean we have a holiday for just about everything else under the sun. Why not a day for coffee?

I’d be infinitely more grateful if the coffee could make it self or at least be inserted into my veins intravenously. Seriously. Some day, you need the coffee to be able to make the coffee. For those of us who are not morning people, the struggle is real.

But coffee is one little thing I give thanks to God for. Without coffee, there’d be a little less joy in my life . . . and a lot less conversation. Just sayin’.

“You don’t have to be perfect to be useful… the rusty nail still holds the roof on” (Eunice Conley).

Perfection is a myth. There’s no such thing as perfect on this side of heaven. Everything we do has a little ulterior motive mixed in. Even our best efforts and most righteous attitudes apart from grace are filthy rags.

God isn’t looking for perfect. He’s looking for available. He’s looking for willing. What He’s looking to find is progress. That means you keep showing up every day surrendered and willing. That means you don’t ever give up.

God is mending your brokenness, but He can still use the broken you. God is healing your wounds, but He can still testify through your scars. God doesn’t pick those who feel they can contribute so much to the Kingdom. God picks the ones who know they have nothing to bring but can only cling to the cross (as the old hymn says).

You might be rusty as all get out. You might not look like much in the eyes of the world. Your value might not be much to most. But you can still hold the roof on. You can still crawl back on the altar and offer yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. God can still use you. Yes, even you. Even me.

“If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to born both within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we all of us hunger for above all other things even when we don’t know its name or realize that it’s what we’re starving to death for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it” (Frederick Buechner).

I think that just about says it all.

“The Shepherd laughed too. ‘I love doing preposterous things,’ he replied. ‘Why, I don’t know anything more exhilerating and delightful than turning weakness into strength, and fear into faith, and that which has been marred into perfection. . . .That is my special work” (Hannah Hurnard, Hinds Feet on High Places).

If it helps for a bit of context, remember that it took God six days to create the entirety of the universe and everything in it. Also remember that He’s been working on you since you were in your mother’s womb. Sometimes, the intricate work takes longer, but bear in mind that the end result will be glorious beyond compare.

God delights in taking those weaknesses and turning them into strengths. He delights in taking nobodies and turning them into world changers. He delights in taking your fear and turning it into faith that is afraid but obeys anyway.

God can take the scars from your worst moments and turn them into a testimony of God at His very best. Day after day, nothing seems to change but when you look back over a year or a decade, you understand better that you are not who you were.

I heard an illustration a long time ago that stuck with me. So many Christians are like those buildings where they put fences around the exterior during remodeling. You never see the messy under construction phase, only the polished and perfect final state. So many of us never want anyone to see us in any way that is less than perfect, but God wants people to see us in the middle of growing and becoming. That, not the so-called perfect picture, is a true reflection of someone who follows Jesus.

“When you remember me, it means you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. I means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart” (Frederick Buechner).

Does anyone else ever randomly remember people you haven’t thought about or seen in a long while, or is it just me? Sometimes, I’ll see someone who reminds me of a someone else that I knew back in the day, and that will open the floodgates of memories for me.

I’ve had lots of people that I’m blessed to be able to remember. Often, those memories come back in the most bizarre and unexpected ways. Then I can smile and look up at God and say, “Thanks! I knew that was you.”

I do think God brings people to mind as a way of spurring us to gratitude. So many have blessed me and taught me so much. Since I can’t necessarily thank them in person, the next best way is to pay it forward to someone else who can maybe in turn one day remember you and what you did for them.

All of these people who waited saw God’s hand while they waited and saw the fruits of their waiting. In every case, waiting on God is always worth it. Running ahead of God because you’re impatient and trying to help Him out never is.

Again, if God is making you wait, it’s usually because you’re not ready for it. Whatever it is is bigger than you can conceive or handle right now. Plus, He might have something for you right now that you’d miss if you weren’t waiting.

As the great theologian Tom Petty once said, the waiting is the hardest part. But in the end, it’s the wisest.