“I can’t wait for Christmas,” my daughter declared. I’ve heard it a few times already. Of course, she can wait and she must wait because there is nothing we can do to change the pace of our countdown to Christmas. 

My daughter’s inability to endure the advent countdown is cute. But there are times when it seems we cannot endure our circumstances and it’s not so cute.

Last year, during advent, I was recovering from another bleed. “Are you kidding, God? I can’t do this again.” I don’t remember actually saying those words, but I’m sure I thought them.

Are you in a season where the thoughts, “I can’t do this! I can’t stand it one more day. Not one more day of this,” run through your mind on repeat?

I wonder if Mary felt that way too during this season 2000 years ago.

Christmas Eve Baby

Our babysitter is pregnant with a Christmas Eve due date.  Watching her belly grow as we inch closer and closer to Christmas has often brought thoughts of Mary to my mind.  This is how her pregnancy would have developed.  At this point in the advent story, she and Joseph would be preparing for their “vacation” trip to Bethlehem.  Mary, like our babysitter, would no doubt have some concerns about leaving home so close to her due date.  Leaving her midwife.  Leaving her mother.  All the comforts of her home and support system would no longer be available to her in her deepest time of need.  

And she wouldn’t know what to expect from her body.  Like our babysitter, all the questions of a first delivery would be swirling in her head as she plodded uncomfortably along on the hard back of that donkey.  “How much will it hurt?”  “Will there be complications?”  “Will it be quick or will it drag on for hours, even days?”  

My babysitter can barely tie her shoes at this point.  Could we get her on a donkey’s back?  I’m not sure.  I’m confident she’d rather not try.  She cannot sleep through the night because her bladder has about a 3 hour time limit.  She’s constantly sewing more bibs and cleaning out closets trying to “be ready” for when her baby arrives.  And she’s exhausted.  Poor thing.

Poor Mary.

Would she have wanted to hurry Christmas along?  Maybe yes, just to get it over with.  Maybe no, in hopes of getting back home before her baby came.

Like Mary and my babysitter, we must all endure the wait for Christmas.

What are you enduring in this season?

Advent Teaches Us to Endure

At this time last year, I was recovering from my second episode of lung bleeds.  It was unexpected and devastating.  Another urgent surgical procedure drained me of energy and did not stop the bleeding.  So we headed into Christmas praying, “Please don’t let me bleed on Christmas Day.”  My children prayed, “Please let mommy be home for Christmas.”  We couldn’t hurry things along to my next surgery.  We couldn’t hurry Christmas along before my next bleed.  

I was exhausted, worried, and not feeling very festive.  But I learned so much from that Christmas season.  I can endure hard things when I must but not in my own strength. 

Endure.  That word can fill a person with anticipation, like enduring nine months of pregnancy for the joy of holding a tiny human in your arms at the end of your waiting, the end of your enduring.  Or it can fill a person with dread, like enduring a Christmas in bed, waiting and hoping that your lungs won’t pop before the presents are unwrapped.

I learned an interesting thing about the word endure.  It comes from the Hebrew word “amad.”  The primary meaning of “amad” is to stand or stand still.  We see amad/stand in verses like:

“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.” - Habakkuk 2:1

There are nearly one hundred verses where “amad” means to stand or stand still.  But there are also a handful of verses where this same word, “amad,” also means endure.

“God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” - Exodus 18:23

“Holy and awesome is his name! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” - Psalm 111:10

Look at that.  The word endure is always linked to the One with the power to endure.  Even when it means to stand, the power to stand comes from God.  

Habakkuk was standing on his watch-post waiting for God to show up in his circumstances.  How was he able to do that, to wait like that?  Because God gave him the strength to stand and wait.  To endure.

Exodus tells us that we are able to endure because God will give us the power to endure.  And Psalms tells us that God’s praise endures forever.  Only an eternal God can cause his praises to endure eternally.

God’s power to endure is the same power that helped the watchman in Psalm 130. What did he do? He stood to watch and wait. How? By God’s power to endure. Why? Because of hope. He knew the Lord would return and bring love in his wake. That’s what he needed so he watched and waited with hope. God’s power can enable you to watch and wait with hope for very, very long seasons.

We are able to endure so much more than we think we can when our power to endure comes from God.  

• Mary endured an uncomfortable, worrisome trip late in her pregnancy because God enabled her.

• My family endured a tension-filled Christmas because God enabled us.  

• You can endure your difficult season because God can and will enable you.

Your Power Source

Friend, if you feel weak and unable to endure the circumstances you are living in this Christmas season or any season, look to your power source for endurance.  God is more than able (Eph 3:20-21).

With his power, “I can’t” will be transformed into, “With you I am able.” You will be able to stand, amad, to stand firm and endure the season you are in. No matter how hard it is. No matter how weak you feel. He will direct you, you will be able to endure.

Can we be email friends? I’d love to drop an encouraging note in your inbox once a week.

As a welcome gift, I’ll send you my playlist of songs that help me endure.