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Advent begins and I wonder who cares.
The word advent does not mean to wait, rather it means the begining of something. However the tradition of the church offers as we begin a new year, the first proper thing to do, is to do nothing, but wait a while.
We are instructed to pause and ponder, to consider and let the magnitude of the thing which is about to take place find it's proper rank in our to do lists. Thus the question, "What are you waiting for."If I have considered and discerned that for which I wait, for which I hope and yearn, then I will also likely know how to best respond and which paths to choose as the year moves forward. If however, I am consumed by the events without perpective, my life may be swallowed by impuse responses with little or no connecton to anything I truely value. If the couple in the garden would have paused to consider the question and the source of the questions, I doubt they would have been so easily beguiled. I find this still true for us today. For what are you waiting? I believe the answer is a key to your happiness and your relationship with the world around you.
Are you waiting for a savior? Are you waiting for a king? Or perhaps a new Queen or princess? Are you waiting to grow? Are you waiting to survive? Are you waiting to eat or get warm. Are you waiting for shelter, or for yor ship to come in? Are you waiting on someone else, something beyond your control? Are you waiting with others or by yourself? Are you waiting in pain, in boredom, or celebration? Are you waiting for something more, something less, or perhaps just something, anything; Beuhler... .
Waiting is work. Not doing can also be understood as doing something. Waiting is doing something, and for me personally is usually quite productive. Pausing to reflect as a new season begins is a mature response to the world. And hard as this may sound, to stay young forever is not our goal, rather it is to mature, and to do so gracefully.
So I ask you, for what are you waiting? The answer defines our days.
3 comments:
Great thoughts as we enter Advent. It is really a good thought to share with my adult study group in light of the "waiting" we have done for about 2 1/2 yrs. Now that we have a "new home" as a church congregation what are we waiting for in Advent?
As question to add to the discussion list.
Dorothy H
Good thoughts on the act of waiting. The actions of waiting can be external such as cleaning the house or putting the tree. They can also be internal such as the refelctions you speak of. What waiting is not is the passive stillness waiting to react to what is not yet. Too much life goes by unlived in that approach. Thanks for the thoughts.
My life has been a series of "Holding Patterns"...I am the Queen of waiting! Waiting means living in exhilerating expectation, it is holding onto the tail of a kite waiting for just the right breeze to carry you away, it is that "Is it here yet?" moment; it is biting into your favorite cookie and reaching the anticipated surprise in the center; it is knowing what is coming. I KNOW what is coming...it is the Promise of the Christ Child...it is physical wholeness, emotional balance and spiritual Oneness with the Creator of all things. GET EXCITED!
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