We began waiting for his arrival on Sunday. Our son had been in Japan for a month and was flying home for Thanksgiving. “He’s in the air now” we said to each other as we knew Tokyo’s time zone was a day ahead of us. Then the flight was late and he missed his connection. We stared at our phones, waiting for the news of his new arrival time. As we waited, we could both smell him! Our longing and anticipation for those we love is palpable.
Advent means arrival. Little children get it. They count down the days to Christmas. Waiting is hard. “When can we open the gifts?” “How many more days until we see our cousins?” Elves and advent calendars all help us count down the days. But Advent is more than child’s play. We adults also have our longings. Here in the darkest season of the year, when the sun sets too soon and sleeps too late, we can grow weary.
Advent reminds us that we wait for some good news to still be born among us. What is it that you wish would arrive in your life right now? How might you be weary of waiting for God to show up? Advent announces that long ago love arrived in human flesh, still arrives in the mess of our own world, and will one day arrive more fully. But when the plans seem delayed, how will each of us artfully wait for God to come?
Perhaps this Poem by Dom Helder Camara says it better.
The Spirit Is Breathing
The spirit is breathing
All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for hearing
detect a coming dawn;
a reason to go on.
They seem small, these signs of dawn,
perhaps ridiculous.
All those with eyes to see,
women and men with ears for hearing
uncover in the night
a certain gleam of light;
they see the reason to go on.
Grace and Peace,
Carla
