ADVENT

The four-week period leading up to Christmas is a series of events designed to enhance our celebration of Christmas. It is meant to get our eyes focused on what, indeed Who, is coming. It is to prepare us for His arrival. As Phillip Brooks noted,

“It was not suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world. He came into a world that had been prepared for him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation…Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of his time, did Jesus come.”

What is important is that we do not miss this preparation time. It is so easy to rush through it; to hurry and get to the event. But we must wait if we want to know the full benefit of the miracle.

This is not only true of Christmas, but for every “coming of Christ” into our lives. If we miss the season of preparation, if we forget to wait and watch, we may miss the glory and the peace that He brings when He comes. Oh, His purposes will be carried out. We can’t stop His coming. But we can miss it. So many did when He came as a baby. So many do when He comes to them to touch them, to lift them, to fulfill their dreams. He was there, but they missed the glory of the event. They are like Moses who had to just watch the back of God fade in the distance. The miracle they hoped for happened but they missed the “happening”.

Let us learn to watch and wait. To stay. To sit. To linger. To tarry. To wonder. There will always be time for the rush and the worry. God is about to do something! Wait for it!

                        “You keep us waiting.

                         You, the God of all time,

                         Want us to wait

                         For the right time in which to

                                    discover

Who we are, where we are to go,

Who will be with us, and what we

            must do.

So thank You…for the waiting time.”

- John Bell