WAITING
Waiting is what Advent is all about and waiting is what we spend doing during our daily journey through life. So let's take a waiting journey.
THE DAILY WAIT
As soon as one arises in the morning, there may be a wait to enter the bathroom to ready ourselves during the day. Or as many do the the first action upon waking is to look at their phone, tablet, or computer. Surprise you may have to wait until the wifi signal is at full strength before checking out the latest in news, e-mail, etc.
One turns on the shower water and finds that they must wait 30 seconds to a minute before it is heated up enough to step in.
Next venture to the kitchen. The water for your coffee or tea needs to be put in the microwave for a minute or two. Then once ready, you must wait a minute before you can actually drink it. Now we haven't even left the house yet if you are working. For those who are parents usually you have to awaken your children and wait for them to get ready for school. More waiting. When you do arrive at school, there is of course the long line of parents' vehicles that are waiting to drop off their children.
THE COMMUTE
Back to those who are off to work. You get in your vehicle and realize that you must fill up the tank so you head to Costco and find a line of cars six deep also on the same mission. Once you have filled up your vehicle you head off on your commute.Wait a minute. You didn't get your coffee at Starbucks. Off to the drive-thru for a five minute wait. For those of you that don't have a long drive to work, God has blessed you. For those of you like myself who live in a urban area, you know that you will spend a good amount of time at traffic signals and once on the freeway waiting for traffic to move beyond 25 mph. It isn't even 7:00 am yet and it seems like you have done a lot ot waiting.
IT ISN"T EVEN NOON YET
So far your first hours are full of waiting. The rest of the day will be somewhat of same. Waiting in line at the grocery store or local eatery. One cannot forget the doctor's office where you were scheduled for a 3:00 pm appointment and it is already 3:45. Then there is the classic wait, the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Waiting for a loved one to get ready to go out. Waiting for work to end. Waiting for the game to end so we can celebrate a victory. Waiting in line to cross the border.
Yes we do a lot of waiting during our life. We wait for our sports teams to win which if you are a Cub's or Red Sox fan you know what I am talking about. We wait for good news and bad news. We wait for news about a child who applied to a college. We wait for medical news or news about loved ones who are sick. We wait and wait.
THE PERENNIAL WAITER
Yet while we are waiting all this time do we think about the One who is patiently waiting for us? Perhaps as we wait impatiently in line at the store or at Costco to put gas in our car we can spend a moment to acknowledge the One who created us. Or for someone like myself who spends what seems like too much time in Southern California traffic, I can thank God for the vehicle that I am able to drive to work as well as for the drivers who are plodding along with me to their destination. In this I am surrendering to the One who created me. As the day ends I can spend time in quiet solitude looking over what Jesus is waiting for me to do. As always there is unfinished business, an amends that needs to be made, some part of my life that I refuse to give up control over, and the list goes on. Yet he patiently waits.
Happy Advent.
