Waiting

I have been thinking about waiting lately for many reasons.  My friend Steve blogged about Robert Heinlein’s book Stranger in a Strange Land in an entry entitled “Waiting Is .” In Heinlein’s book, the phrase “waiting is” was used to help one understand that waiting was necessary to come to full understanding with one another.

Another reason for having waiting on my mind is because I am learning to wait, to be patient, again in my life.  I have a lot of things going on and I, as is the case with most of us, want it NOW.  I know this is not going to happen but I should be better experienced at waiting, at patience, but  I am not.

Today is the start of the Advent season in the Roman Catholic church.  Advent is the four weeks prior to Christmas – the four Sundays.  Advent is a season of preparation and of waiting, of anticipation.  Many years ago I bought a book by an author who is expecting her first child and is the wife of an Episcopal priest.  Awaiting the Child:  An Advent Journal is written by Isabel Anders, with a forward by Madeleine L’Engle.

As I pick it up each year to follow the readings through the days of Advent, I am struck by how fast our world spins.  In the times of Mary and Joseph and Jesus, the world was a slower, simpler place.

We are called to listen.  We are called to wait in anticipation for the joy that is to come on Christmas Day.  I will, probably regularly, refer to the daily items I read in this book for the next four weeks.  Please slow down.  Enjoy your life, your family.  Wait on the miracle that is to come.