We all wait in our own ways: some fidget, glancing impatiently at their watches, drumming their fingers; they have other things to do. Some wait passively, with slumped shoulders and resigned stares; in our current sociological lingo, these are the “unempowered.” Some don’t mind waiting and keep themselves entertained, or at least occupied, while doing so. Some grumble, some smile, some chat, some are sullen. We wait the way we live.
Of course, how we wait depends on what we’re waiting for. A little boy waits for Christmas with expectation and excitement; a grown man waits for his appointment with the IRS auditor with an altogether different set of feelings. The bride before her wedding (and the groom before his!), the old lady in the checkout line of the grocery-store, the parents waiting to hear the outcome of their son’s operation, the prisoner who has already eaten his Last Meal: all wait—each one waits, knowing something is going to happen.
The Advent season has a variety of nuanced meanings and insights for us to discover, but at its heart it has a simple but important lesson to teach: wait.
We wait for things we can’t make happen ourselves: the paint to dry, a child’s first word, a check to clear, the verification of our numbers from the State Lottery Commission. We wait for these things because we can’t do anything else.
Advent teaches us we have to wait for God. He won’t be rushed.
God is beyond, or outside, or above time. For God there is no past, present or future—with God, all is now.
But He made His creatures and worlds subject to time. Suns sputter out, granite turns to sand, dinosaurs disappear, we grow up, then grow old. But you and I are different than dinosaurs or daisies. God has breathed His life into us. He made us to be creatures living in time, but destined for something else. He breathed immortality, but we don’t quite believe it. We live in the world of time He created, but we live as prisoners. We trap ourselves in time, define ourselves by clocks.
Advent says, wait. Wait. Be patient, God is doing something, and you’re part of it. Trust Him with yourself, with your time. Advent calls us to wait for God. What He does is often so subtle it escapes our notice, but He is here. If we learn to wait with Him and watch, we might catch a glimpse of Him as He passes.—Fr Gregory Wilcox
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