  An efficient, iterative semi-implicit (SI) numerical method for the time
integration of stiff wave systems is presented. Physics-based assumptions are
used to derive a convergent iterative formulation of the SI scheme which
enables the monitoring and control of the error introduced by the SI operator.
This iteration essentially turns a semi-implicit method into a fully implicit
method. Accuracy, rather than stability, determines the timestep. The scheme is
second-order accurate and shown to be equivalent to a simple preconditioning
method. We show how the diffusion operators can be handled so as to yield the
property of robust damping, i.e., dissipating the solution at all values of the
parameter $\mathcal D\dt$, where $\mathcal D$ is a diffusion operator and $\dt$
the timestep. The overall scheme remains second-order accurate even if the
advection and diffusion operators do not commute. In the limit of no physical
dissipation, and for a linear test wave problem, the method is shown to be
symplectic. The method is tested on the problem of Kinetic Alfv\'en wave
mediated magnetic reconnection. A Fourier (pseudo-spectral) representation is
used. A 2-field gyrofluid model is used and an efficacious k-space SI operator
for this problem is demonstrated. CPU speed-up factors over a CFL-limited
explicit algorithm ranging from $\sim20$ to several hundreds are obtained,
while accurately capturing the results of an explicit integration. Possible
extension of these results to a real-space (grid) discretization is discussed.
