“O Come, O Come Emmanuel…”
I have been pondering what to write this week and it all comes down to one word: Waiting. I don’t know about any of you but for me the word waiting comes with a lot of baggage. I don’t mind waiting in lines…although there are many of you who think that is a fate worse than death. I don’t mind letting people go in front of me in the grocery store when I have a lot and someone behind me only has a few items. I don’t mind. Waiting lets me think about what I need to get done next. It lets me think about…well just all kinds of things. I can let my mind wander to potential vacation ideas, or what to cook for dinner or maybe we just get pizza, and everything in-between!
But waiting is also horrible. Since we are in the month of December, I remember as a kid, I hated waiting for Christmas when I could open my gifts from Santa. My poor mom had to go through all kinds of gyrations to hide the gifts she and dad got for me and my brother. She even wrote her Christmas lists in shorthand! One year when both my brother and I knew who Santa was, she put my name on the gifts for my brother and vice versa. We were both terrible about shaking the gifts to see if we could figure out what they were. Imagine our surprise and indignation that year when, after all the gifts had been handed out and before we opened them, Mom said: Ok, now switch presents. What!!!!
But back to the reasons I don’t like waiting. I hate waiting on my dr to call with test results. No matter how simple they are. When my kids were teenagers, I hated waiting for them to come home as I prayed they came home safely. I really hated it when my dad was dying and the entire family was waiting and wondering would this be the last moment, day, week he would be part of this world. That was probably the hardest waiting I have ever done because I didn’t want it to be over. Yesterday would have been his 94th birthday. So, waiting comes with a lot of baggage.
And now we are in the season of Advent. A season of waiting. I love the lyrics to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” It is an ancient song and speaks to a world waiting for a Savior. Advent, which the world glosses over even more than it glosses over Thanksgiving, is about waiting expectantly for the most precious gift ever given. O Come the song sings…we mourn in lonely exile until the Son of God appears…The one thing I find rather sad it that we typically only sing three of the verses when there are seven verses filled with amazing words.
The world has turned this precious time of waiting, into a chaotic and frenzied time of buy, buy, buy. We run ourselves ragged when instead, we should be waiting, expectantly for Christmas and the celebration that God sent his son into this messy world as a tiny baby. A baby who would grow up and give us a message of hope, joy, love, and peace the very same words we are given throughout the Sundays of Advent. These words are reminders of what we are to bring into the world as we live our lives.
And so, in this Advent season, the question I give you to reflect on is this: How are you living a life filled with hope, joy, love, and peace?
May these four weeks of Advent be filled with expectant waiting…
Peace, Love, Joy, and Hope,
Beth
Beth's Blog 