Waiting

Waiting

for the promised seed,

dropped

into a cove of hungry earth.

Waiting 40 days and 40 years

for the tree of Jesse,

the branch of David.

Noah’s olive sprig to return, again,

as Christmas fruit,

rinsed in Jordan,

peeled by Pilate,

5,000 fed, then

sealed in a cove of stony earth.

Waiting

for the promised seed,

lifted

into wrappings of opaque clouds.

Waiting, with lamps of oil burning,

for a shoot from the stock of Jesse,

whose roots reach to the river.

Noah’s olive sprig to return, again,

on a white horse

whose rider is called Faithful and True.

Waiting

for clouds to unwrap.

Waiting.

Brett VanTol © Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Used by permission.

Dr. Brett VanTol, is a psychologist with Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in Spring Lake, MI. He has enjoyed the task of writing a Christmas poem each year to include with the family Christmas card. Brett and Lyn, his wife, enjoy their time of waiting together in God’s lake-filled and snow-paused creation.

Reformed Worship 141 © September 2021, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Used by permission.