The Meaning is in the Waiting

"The Lord waits, that He may be gracious unto you." Book of Isaiah

For those of you who grew up in a mainline church, you know that the four weeks on the church calendar preceding Christmas is called Advent--a time of waiting. In the church my family attended when I was a boy, we ceremoniously lit another candle on the advent wreath each week, signifying our "waiting" in anticipation of the baby Jesus' arrival on Christmas Eve.  Last Christmas Ethie gave me a little book about Advent titled The Meaning is in the Waiting by Paula Gooder. In it she talks about finding meaning in the sacred act of waiting.    We Americans, with our instant soup, credit card, microwave, "pop-tart" society, aren't very good at waiting. It's not our forte.  And yet, we get a lot of practice at it: we wait in lines, we wait for our check, we wait in the doctor's office.   We also wait for God. We wait for our prayers to be answered, our families to be healed, our hearts to be changed. We wait for direction or clarification. We wait for hope.    We wait. And we think it's a waste of time. Time is made to be spent, managed, saved; not wasted by waiting. But it is God's time, and there is always enough of it--more than enough. And so we are invited to wait. Just wait. As I read the book I realized something: It is not only we who wait. God waits, too. He waits on us for our attention, for our ear, for the turning of our hearts. The prophet Isaiah says, "The Lord waits, that He may be gracious unto you."  This Christmas, I want to learn more about how to wait upon the Lord. After all, God isn't in a hurry. Time belongs to him. It is we who need to quiet our spirits....and listen....and wait.  There's much more to say about this, but it will have to "wait" until next week! For now, we lean into this sacred act of waiting during Advent.  Grace and Peace as you wait for the Christ Child,     Greg