Consider the transitional times in your life. As a teen you were anxious and eager to become an adult, but you still lived under your parents’ “oppressive” roof. (Well, that is perhaps what it felt like.) There is the time when you are engaged but not yet married, and the anticipation of the new life together is exhilarating. Empty nesters find themselves wondering, “What now?” when the kids leave home. Retiring from your career is its own transition as you consider where to invest yourself when no one is relying on you to do anything. In all these moments we find ourselves soul searching for purpose, direction, and hope. The same is true for this time in between. God has chosen not to return just yet, so what does he want us to invest ourselves in while we wait? Scripture tells us that God is not slow to fulfill his purposes (Hebrews 10:37; Habakkuk 2:3–4; 2 Peter 3:9), so there is purpose now. Where will you invest yourself in the in between? Where will you bring a glimpse of God’s work to the right now? May we be people who are busy working to bring God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
