Waiting

One of the most popular gift items this Christmas is sure to be the Amazon Echo Dot (2nd Generation) or Google Home. These voice-prompted devices do everything from telling you the weather to turning on the lights in your living room. These tools are more examples of the “instant” society we have become. We have almost everything we want or need with the touch of a finger or by speaking a simple phrase. We are long on technology but short on patience. We hate waiting! We look for the shortest line in the grocery store, the fastest lane on the highway, the closest parking spot at the mall.

Advent challenges us to listen more closely to a different kind of voice-prompt, the voice of the Spirit who prompts us to wait in hope. Waiting instills patience and humility. Those virtues create space for God. They help us to see and to sense the presence of God more easily. Waiting nurtures our relationship with God.  

During Advent, our scripture readings are filled with images of what happens when we wait in hope: a desert blooms, a wolf becomes a lamb’s BFF, and the poor finally have their day. Good news abounds. As the angel Gabriel tells Mary:

 “Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age; she who was thought to be sterile is now in her six month, for nothing is impossible with God.”

Luke 1, 36

Advent tells us that not only is it ok to wait, it might actually be preferable in the long run. So, savor Advent. Savor God’s presence. Savor life!