Waiting

Have you been to a shopping mall lately? The malls are filled with holiday festivity, providing an environment that quickly transports us from Thanksgiving to Christmas. When we go to the mall to shop, we accept the consequences of waiting on long lines. We wait—and the waiting might be a calm, resigned wait or a stressful one.

Waiting with patience is really a sign of this season which the Christian church calls Advent. We wait with joyful expectation for something good to happen and for someone special to come into our midst.

There are no long lines or impatience in this kind of waiting. In fact, sometimes the waiting is done quietly, with reflection and prayer. Even in the natural world, we wait for the dawn of light because the darkness comes so early. Now, we wait for Christ to come again and show himself in our midst.

Let us be awakened as we wait, and in this awakening may we recognize the signs of ope, light, and of God among us.

Rosemarie Greco, DW