Acts 1:12-14. The eleven remaining disciples return to Jerusalem from the place where the Ascension had taken place, a mount called Olivet near Jerusalem. They go back to the upper room where they had been staying and devote themselves to prayer, together with Mary and the women and some of Jesus' relatives.

What a wild ride the apostles were on! First, one of the twelve betrayed Jesus and Jesus was killed. They were crushed and terrified and hiding in the upper room! Then Jesus rose from the dead and they were confused, and then elated, but still unsure and scared, and they waited in the upper room, where He would appear to them. Then Jesus led them out to Mount Olivet where He told them they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit and be his missionaries to the world, and they saw him ascend into heaven! They stood there gaping until two angels told them to stop! So from there they returned to the upper room, not knowing, I'm sure, what else to do or where else to go.

The upper room became a touchstone for the disciples in these constantly changing times. It was their familiar home base, one which Jesus pointed them to before the Last Supper. Jesus had told His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit. So they know His instructions and they know to wait. He didn't specifically tell them to wait in the upper room, but it was the room that He had chosen for them, and where everything seemed to be happening, so it makes sense that they went back there.

Even though they knew they had to wait, I'm sure they really didn't have much of an understanding of what they were waiting for. What could they imagine receiving the Holy Spirit would look or feel like? How would they know when it had happened and when they were then to go out and spread the word? Of course, Jesus never leaves us guessing, when the Holy Spirit came, the apostles would certainly know it. But I know I would have been impatient and antsy being in the upper room and waiting for something I couldn't envision or understand. I would think "We have been given a mission, but we have to sit and wait first? How long? What will it feel like when it was time to go? Had it already come and I had ignored it? Am I already failing in my mission?"

These are the kind of questions I ask myself all the time. But this is where trust comes in, Jesus has a mission for me and He will make it abundantly clear when I am to act.

(First published 12/14/2022)