Waiting in Advent

I love Advent, I love all the traditions - Advent wreaths and Advent calendars.  We slowly take out decorations for Christmas and our house becomes red and green.  Usually the creches go up first.  I have a bunch of different nativity scenes.  I also keep one out year round.  I like to have it to remind me of the nativity and the coming of hope into the world.  It is something I need to remember in July just as much as I do in December.

I love the cooking and baking I do in preparation and for others for gifts.  I like to think of new things to create for my friends and family each year.  I try my best to have an extra prayer devotion during Advent, this year I bought a book of daily devotions and then Kevin gave me a copy of what he is using at the Advent study at church.  I would love to be able to go to the Advent study, but the reality of being a non working clergy spouse is that it is not possible for me to do that.  I really don't mind, but find it kind of funny.  We have money for babysitters once in a while, but I don't like to "waste" it on something that we could use to have time together.  

I think that part of the joy of anything in life is the anticipation of its coming.  It seems very fitting then, that we spend a month anxiously and joyfully waiting for Christmas.  As a Christian I am waiting for 2 things - the celebration of Jesus' birthday and his coming into the world and the second coming of Christ that will forever change the world.  The first is very familiar and an easy thing to contemplate.  Now that I am a mother, I can really imagine how it must have been for Mary, alone and frightened and yet hopeful.  I remember that the first time I held both my boys.  For me it wasn't really a holy moment, that "falling in love" feeling came later, but there is a certain awe that comes in meeting a baby for the first time.  It is harder to imagine how it would be for the coming of a powerful, perhaps vengeful God.  It is a frightening concept to think of meeting somebody who knows me inside and out - I am sure it would be an uncomfortable moment.  So honestly, I don't think of it much, I just try to live my life as well as I can and be a good person and Christian.  

I hope that I am instilling a love of Advent and waiting within my children.  I think Harry has at least a kernel of it in him.  He like me often saves the best for last.  He'll do that with favorite foods or activities.  I think he likes knowing what is coming and waiting for it.  I am the same way.  I guess in a life that involves many times of waiting it is a good discipline to learn.  

So I wish you an Advent full of time to wait and wonder and look around yourself.  I hope that as you prepare for Christmas, you are able to remember what it is you are preparing for and how wonderful it is that you have the chance to prepare special things for your loved ones.  We live blessed lives and even amidst worries and troubles there is often joy, just waiting to be discovered.  May you see it this December, in the soft eyes of a grandparent remembering Christmases past, the sparkling eyes of a child meeting Santa Claus, or simple in a quiet moment when you see the lights and the colors for what they are; signs of hope for a baby who has come and the miracle of life that God gives us that continues to unfold and enfold us every day.