Worth the Wait

We waited.

Everybody waited.

From all around the world we came, we took our seats, and waited.  

Some had prepared for months.  For others, a last-minute opportunity had presented itself.  But we were now mingling with people of many nations while we waited.

Our group, from Japan, Russia, and the U.S. stayed together.  The bus had arrived early enough that we quickly found seating without having to navigate the uncomfortably steep, bowed concrete amphitheater steps. 

In whispered reverence, we watched others arrive, take their places, and like us, waited.

This kind of thing takes place all over the world.  People anticipate.  They watch and they wait for varied reasons.  It might be a performance or a speech by a celebrity.  Perhaps it is a celebration like a graduation or a wedding.  We gather together, we speak in muted tones, and we wait.

On this evening we huddled, murmured, and watched while seated on a heavily vegetated hillside overlooking Nicoya Bay in the Pacific Ocean.  We came for the promised breathtaking sunset viewed from the Anfiteatro Bar & Restaurant at the Villa Caletas Hotel near Jaco, Costa Rica.

We were not disappointed.  

Years later, remembering this experience, I still feel connected to the traveler-friends made during that trip.  

For weeks, some of us have prepared for the spectacular. Some have joined only recently but we all waited together.  

Like my amphitheater friends, we knew what we were waiting for.  We knew what to expect for we had heard of the astounding visuals.  But we found it to be much more than we had expected.  The beauty far exceeded the spectacular.  This night remains a vivid memory 15 years later.

I offer this prayer for you today.  

May you find the splendor of Easter to be so much more than you’ve ever expected or experienced before.  May you carry this resplendent glory with you for the rest of your life.  Amen.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6: 4-5