I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,    more than watchmen wait for the morning.  Psalm 130

The subtitle of this psalm is "a song for pilgrims".  Pilgrims are those who journey, yet waiting often feels like standing still.  It almost feels mis-titled.  Perhaps it signals that one should wait for the LORD before starting a journey, certainly helpful advice for all who are headed off, to let the LORD lead the way.  

But instead, I wonder if waiting itself isn't a journey, if the pilgrimmage is less physical travel and more spiritual awakening, if the journey is learning to find God when things feel at a stand still.  Learning to let God show up, on God's terms, rather than our own sometimes frantic pursuit.   The waiting itself is a task, a seeking (after all that's what pilgrimmage is), an active watching for the one who promises to show up no matter the circumstances.  

If one is a watchmen, then no matter what is happening, they are supposed to be still, to be waiting, to manage any urge to go do something else, and stay at their post.  While most nights it may seem less than fruitful, it's exactly where they are supposed to be at that time.  

That doesn't mean it's easy or always enjoyable. I imagine watchmen face all sorts of challenges as they wait.  I assume they battle boredom and restlessness, because we are a people who like to move at will, we are not well practiced at waiting.  I'm sure there are nights that seem to drag on forever, and there is always the temptation to assume no one will come, and abandon the post.  As these feelings ebb and flow with the changing skies, I imagine if feels a bit like a journey to get through the night.   I'm sure there are sounds and shadows that raise their heart rates, nights when the anxiety of only being a watchmen, not the one who sees all, presses in hard.   Afterall, they are not the ones in charge, much as they might like to be, only the ones set as a sentry to announce the coming of another.  

And that seems to be the heart of our role.  Ones set as a sentry to announce the coming of another into the world again and again.  We have this call to be the ones to announce the presence of God in our life, I think most especially when that presence appears in the dark nights. 

But despite the challenges of the position, there is one thing that watchmen can always count on.  The morning always comes.  No watchmen waits for the morning in vain.  No matter how long the night, the arrival of morning is absolute.  So it is with us as well.  While the journey of waiting seems long, restless, scary, tiresome--it is for just a time.  It is watching to announce the coming of the one who will set our feet on the next journey.  The pause of waiting is in fact pilgrimmage, a journey of the heart learning to be still, to anticipate the one who always comes.