Advent 1, 2010

Advent ~ from the Latin adventus meaning to come or to arrive. In Christian tradition the four weeks before Christmas have become a time of waiting for the coming or the arrival of the Savior.

I like Christmas, the whole Christmas season. I like the reflection and preparation of Advent. I like the shopping. I like Santa (actually I Love Santa). I love the carols whether in my home, around a friend's piano or wafting endlessly through a mall's musak. I love the energy, the decorations, the family gatherings, the traditions and the excitement. I love children's services and telling the nativity story over and over.

And given all of that, this year . . . ah, this year . . . something is different.

Truthfully, I think it has to do with the very personal healing of my hip. I am still a little sore. I don't move as fast nor as well yet as I will. There are certain bends and step ups I am not allowed to do yet no matter how well PT is going. And I just don't have my usual energy.

So this morning I surrounded a nativity scene that stays on my shelf all year with four very odd and different candles and lit one of them. As I did, I said a prayer for a younger friend who has had two serious surgeries in the last week. His family is certainly waiting - waiting for major healing, for the tubes to be removed, for all to be well. I thought of his little girl, waiting for Daddy to come home and her family to restored to some sort of normalcy.

Waiting. Waiting for the job interview or the new job to materialize. Waiting for word from the doctor. Waiting for the baby to come. Waiting for the plane to arrive. Waiting for the snow to fall. Waiting for the snow to stop falling. Waiting for the test results. Waiting for the college acceptance letter. Waiting for the hip to heal enough that I can bend over and take the decorations out of their storage and climb the step stool to decorate the tree. Waiting.

Advent helps us see waiting as a blessing, a sacred time. May all our times of waiting be seen in that Light. As you wait, take a breath. Acknowledge your waiting as blessed and sacred. Do not rush into the answer or the result. Waiting is a part of the journey too. ~ with blessings