Trimmed and Burning

When I was in College, I was a part of the Mars Hill College Choir Chamber Singers. As a music major I was invited to be a part of this group during the fall semester of my Freshman year. One of the first pieces I can remember singing with this group was an old spiritual arranged by the great Andre Thomas called, “Keep your Lamps!”

Here are some of the Lyrics:

Keep your lamps trimmed and burnin’
Keep your lamps trimmed and burnin’
Keep your lamps trimmed and burnin’
The time is drawing nigh.

Children don’t get weary
Children don’t get weary
Children don’t get weary
’til your work is done.

Christian journey soon be over
Christian journey soon be over
Christian journey soon be over
The time is drawing nigh

-Anonymous

Its based on Luke 12:35-40:

35″Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

I liked the song because it is a wonderful hopeful piece of music, but this week I found new meaning in its words. You see this week I spent a lot of time waiting. Apart from the normal waiting at traffic lights, and for people to act like they drove a car before, I waited to get well.

My roommate Jimmy and I were both stricken this week with some sort of Flu bug. It knocked us out cold for 3 days.

Jimmy, unlike me, slept the days away in his room. God made me however to be someone that can’t go back to sleep once I wake up. (Thanks, Mom, I know I get that from you!) So I spent plenty of time this week waiting. I watched countless hours of daytime television. I can probably breakdown this weekend’s Superbowl XLII better than most real football fans. I have heard coverage from every angle possible.

The funny thing about waiting is that in order to wait there has to be something worth waiting on. In this case feeling good again, its worth the wait. As stir crazy as I was, I forced myself to sit and not move all around: to just let my body and the medicine do what it was supposed to do.

Waiting also requires a readiness. When the acne-faced teenaged boy with a corsage sits nervously in the living room with a girls father on prom night he is ready to go! He is waiting! You see it wouldn’t do very much good for him to sit and wait if he still had on shorts and a t-shirt! You can’t wait unless you are ready to go, ready to put that foot toward the door.

Waiting requires patience. Sometimes traffic lights take too long late at night. There are no cars coming in any direction but still the light is red for 2 or 3 minutes. Its very tempting to go ahead and jump the gun and cross through that intersection, but we exercise patience with the process and we wait to go until our light is green.

This is what Jesus was referring to in this little parable. He reminds us that He is coming back, we should be ready, and we should be patient.

What kinds of things are you waiting on in your life? Are you waiting for a new job? Are you waiting for test results? Are you waiting for direction?

Waiting is not fun, it takes the power of choice out of our hands. It can be a very scary time. I know what its like to wait. This week I chose to ask for God to help me in my waiting. The funny thing is that knowing that God is helping me actually helps me take back some of that power. I can rest secure in knowing that God is there even if what I am waiting on doesn’t come back with a great outlook.

So I challenge you to identify things in your life that you are waiting on and ask God to wait with you. I can’t promise an outcome, but I can promise your relationship with God will be strengthened and as far as I am concerned that is the best outcome of all.

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering I am feeling much better now.