Advent Waiting

Advent is a time of waiting.

A prepared waiting.

Formed in ages past.

By sorrow.

Disappointment.

Wrong turns and bad decisions.

By prophetic words.

Dreams and fancies.

Promises and hopes.

All of it, a preparing.

A shaking and a shaping.

Molding the spirit.

Advent waiting.

Pondering what has been.

Ages past, and just last year.

Everything counts in the shaking.

The shaping.

The molding.

Nothing lost.

All is used.

The good and the bad.

We learn in Advent.

To give thanks.

For everything.

Not because everything is good.

It isn't.

Some of it is downright evil.

But nothing defeats the work of God.

Everything is a tool.

To prepare the soul.

Advent invites Thanksgiving.

For the preparing and its pain.

For the journey and its joy.

And when thanks is given.

When, with love, we receive what has been.

When, in humility, we dare to see the preparing.

The future opens before us.

A star shines from on high.

And in a nearby stable, small and warm, the Christ is born anew!