During Lent: We Celebrate the Waiting

THE WAITING

–The Before–
The now and the not yet,
The in between.
WAIT.
The what is and what is to come.
The HOPE.
WAIT.
For a “winter dead,”
ITS GREAT THAW.
The cold barren ground
WAITS.
UNTO SOMETHING other,
UNTO ITS UNDOING.
WAIT.
An AFTER:
A yielding of hard earth to tender stem
Unto a “Greenest Gown.”
Hope upon dead earth
Coming up green,
Out of what was,
To what is and is to come.
The unfolding of trumpets
To herald the SON.
HE IS COMING!
All the earth will bow
And the great winter will be dead.

The pictures and the poem above are by my new friend Sissy, an artist with a passion for God and His Word. Her poem was inspired by A.A. Milne’s Daffodowndilly.

On Ash Wednesday, the earth has been waiting for Spring. This time of year, we see the daffodil, echoing Christ’s power over sin and death, pushing aside suffocating dirt, bringing life and beauty, ushering in a new season. Jesus raised Himself from the grave, up from the depths of earth. This miraculous show of power and authority foreshadows His Second Coming, when He will return to raise us up from this place of sin and death, forever. There will be a new heaven and a new earth.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Waiting, in the Middle

Lent is definitely all about life in the middle; it’s a time of looking back, remembering. Lent is also a time of looking forward, to the triumph of Christ.

As we exist in the waiting — in the middle — we hope. And our hope is not in vain, knowing that Jesus has gone before us, has made the way clear for us, is making a place for us, and will return to bring us to our new home in heaven. When we are united with God there, we will be made perfect — that is, we will be complete in every way.

Where we are going there will be no more sorrow or tears, no more pain or death. This is gospel—good news. So, here in the muck and mire, we wait with hope, because we know the ending. We know that Jesus makes life out of death.

Sissy Boone is a daddy’s girl, but not a girly girl. She’s more comfortable with paint on her hands than fingernail polish. She breathes God’s Word in deeply and always wants more. She’s fiercely passionate about her kids—ages 17, 19, and 20. Sissy loves: all things horses, boots, and barns. Football, beer, and coffee. Trees, fire, and rain. She says, “I’d rather be lost in the woods than laying on the beach. I’d rather have a steak than a salad, a great book over a movie, and the messy creative process of art over the finished piece.” Sissy is a maker who works in acrylic paint and watercolor, inspired by nature and the deep things of God. In Birmingham, you can find her art at The Neighborhood Brew and she often paints live at Christ Church UMC. Sissy is currently building a website to better share her art with you.