I think of Advent as the waiting season. For the First Sunday of Advent, the Gospel of Mark reminds us that no one knows the precise day or hour the messiah will come, so be alert (13:32-37).
Recently I sent my grown daughter a “Happy Due Date Anniversary” text message, briefly recounting my life on that day, as my husband and I waited for her birth. At my weekly checkup that morning the doctor told me labor pains could start “any minute now.”
We were ready. We’d put a new mattress in our antique cradle, where three generations of babies had slept. My overnight bag was packed. Both our mothers eagerly awaited the phone calls announcing that they were grandmothers. My husband kept the car keys in his pocket, ready to go.
But we had to wait. All that day. All the next day. And all through that night until the next morning, when I felt the first signs that it was finally time.
Though we like to believe we can control situations and orchestrate events, we spend much of our lives waiting. We wait for the mail, text, email or phone call, hoping it will bring us good news: We got the job. Our offer on a home was accepted. The surgery was successful. We wait, perhaps with equal quantities of hope and anxiety braided together in a long rope that pulls us along into the unknown future.
Advent is our annual reminder to use times of waiting to prepare, stay alert and pray.
We wait for someone to come home from school, work or service in the military. We wait as a loved one approaches their last breath before passing on to the next life. We wait for election results, court rulings and news about events that will impact our lives for better or worse.
Given how much of our lives we spend waiting, we ought to be good at it. Sometimes I can be patient, using the waiting time constructively. Other times—like when someone in front of me in line takes too much time to wrap up their business, or when the doctor’s assistant calls for people who arrived long after I did—my temper flares.
One of the wise mentors in my life frequently reminded me, “When there’s nothing you can do, the best thing to do is nothing.” But doing nothing about a situation beyond my control doesn’t come easily. Waiting is hard work. Advent is our annual reminder to use times of waiting to prepare, stay alert and pray, trusting that the Lord is still up to something good among God’s people. Psalm 27:14 reminds us to “wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
