Third Week In Advent - Waiting

The topic for this week of Advent is sort of a bummer - after all no one likes waiting, right? We all like to get what we want when we want it. Unfortunately, much of life is about waiting. When we are kids we can't wait to grow up. When we are adults we can't wait to acheive our next goal - the bigger house, the better job, the corner office, etc... And then there all all those family things we are waiting for: waiting to have kids, waiting for those same kids to grow up and move out, waiting to retire and live the 'good' life.



We are waiting for so many things that often we miss out on much of what life has to offer to us. We get so focused on the future, that we forget to live in the present - and our lives are happening, now, in the present.



Somehow we have to figure out how to wait for what will come, while being present in this moment now. It is a hard thing to do. I know, because I am a checklist kind of gal. I zoom through this life checking things off of my list so I can get to the next thing. Unfortunately, I have noticed lately that while I am checking off laundry, cleaning, and cooking dinner, my son is waiting for me to play with him and I keep telling him "later". But by the time I do everything that has to be done, there is no "later" because it is time for him to go to bed.



I think the concept of "waiting" is very different for God than it is for us. God "waits" for the right moment to intercede in our lives. We sit around "waiting" for that moment. God's waiting has an active quality to it while ours feels mostly passive.



What if we could switch our idea of waiting to be an active one? What if instead of waiting for things to happen to us, we lived in the moment while we anticipated what God might do through us and through those around us?

The most anticipated even in the history of the world was the coming of the Messiah. While Israel waited for the messiah, however, they didn't stop living. They lived each day with anticipation. Now that Jesus has come, those of us who believe him to be the messiah don't stop living with anticpation either. We continue to live with anticipation because we know that God is actively waiting for the right moment to intervene in our lives.

Live life each day in the present - making sure you see what is right in front of you instead of looking too far down the road for too long. I believe that God acts in the present and if we focus too much on the future, we miss his intervention in our lives.

CS

'o come o come Emanuel, and ransmom captive Israel'