“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
Waiting. It is something we do every day, every season, every year. I remember as a third grader waiting for Christmas, of promised surprises beneath the decorated tree in our living room. There was a longing that I could not describe during those last few days of school before the holidays began. The giddiness and joy of waiting for Christmas morning was often more than I could bear. Something really big was going to happen! Songs and stories of the three Wise Men traveling from afar to bring their gifts to baby Jesus lying in a manger mixed easily with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty, and Santa Claus, fueling my already vivid imagination. If you had asked me then what I was waiting for, I would have said, “The presents! I’m waiting to get some presents!”
I look back on those early childhood Christmases, and I know now what I was waiting for then. I thought it was Santa Claus, the presents, and getting what I wanted, but that wasn’t it.
Advent is a time of waiting. We wait with a hope in our hearts that peace is real and achievable in our world, in our cities, our neighborhoods, our families, and in our hearts. We look to the seasonal lights blinking and sparkling from amongst trees, buildings, and lamp-posts, decorating the streets and our homes, and we listen to the telling and singing of stories and songs in our churches and our families to rekindle that spark of truth. It is what, as children, we knew in our hearts: that something very special is about to happen, something wondrous and marvelous!
Advent is that. Waiting for that really big event, the coming of our Savior, Jesus, the Messiah. My soul waits for the Lord. Where I wait, I cannot stand. Where I wait, I cannot speak. It is not about the presents . . . it is about His Presence!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, in you we have hope, and that hope is in our hearts as we move through this time of busy-ness and activity to get everything done. We come to a place of quiet and stillness now, this moment of the day, to seek your word, that we may take the word with us into the world in which we live and work. We wait for the morning light, the One true Light, Redeemer, and King. Amen.
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