Waiting...

I was all set to write this amazing entry on an experience I had while at home.  And then, this happened.

Do you see how the light is green and yet ALL the lights are red?  Welcome to the ATL.  I swore to never complain EVER about Dallas traffic after my experiences here in Atlanta. (And let it be known, I held true to that while at home! I may have commented on Dallas drivers…) It takes, on average, 30 minutes to go 7.5 miles. 7 miles.  I call that ridiculous, but here, it's Atlanta.  

I can understand if it is raining or there is an accident, but today - NOTHING.  The lights were green and people were just in their own little worlds.  I asked a true Atlanta citizen (I'm still a Texan...for now...) why this could be; her response? "It's December." Ugh.

My first thought when I get frustrated with the waiting is what is my rush.  But today, I wasn't in a rush.  I was just so tired of waiting. 

And then...this happened...

I love reading my d365.org devotionals, and now I have the Advent ones!  Today’s message spoke to me so directly I had one of those moments where I got the chills (it didn’t hurt that the music that accompanies the devotional is beautiful…). 

The devotional spoke to waiting.  After all, that’s what advent is all about, right?  We are waiting… waiting for the birth of the Messiah, the Holy of Holies, Emmanuel.

When I was praying through the devotional, I couldn’t help but think about what I am waiting for this season: an urge to be studying, Hebrew to just click in my brain, finals to be over, Christmas shopping to get done, and to go home.  Hmm…lots of waiting…none of it involving the birth of the Son of God…

Does this make me a bad person?  I don’t think so…It’s not that I’m a horrible Christian because I didn’t immediately think about what the season means.  I bet if you ask 10 people, 6 out of the 10 people WILL NOT say anything about Baby Jesus.  I think this season of Advent tends to get rolled up into Christmas.  For me, they are two TOTALLY different things.  Today at 3 different stores, only 1 out of 8 “Advent calendars” actually had anything relating to the Christmas story we read in the Gospels.  Has our society, our culture blended it all together and looked to the coming of a large jolly man with reindeer as opposed to a sacred baby with a mule?

“We watch and we wait in Advent. We watch so that we might be found.”  This is from the devotional today and like I stated earlier, it made me think of what I am waiting and watching for.

You can read the entirety of the devotional for today at www.d365.org/followingthestar ~ even if you don’t read today’s, I would encourage you to read tomorrow’s…and the next day’s…and the next. 

As we are in this time of waiting, holding our breath in excitement for the gift God generously gave for his people, my prayer would be that we act and respond like the faithful people God has called.  That we “come and behold him”, not the large jolly man, but the one “born the king of Bethlehem”. 

I pray I remember truly what adoration is.  Adoration not of a seasonal break in school, but adoration of a God that loves so much he sends his only son  to a world full of sin. I pray that I look beyond this semi-silly season of red, green and glitter, and look towards the grace and salvation that comes in that tiny bundle born in a manger.  I pray I remember it’s not about the gifts, the money spent, or the music (GASP!), but the people, the love, and the memories. I pray I also remember all those who can't even think about the gifts, money, or music because they are more concerned with finding shelter for the night.

I would like to close with the prayer from the devotional today. 

Let us begin Advent, waiting.

  Not the “going back to sleep” kind of waiting.

  Not the impatient pacing, or the wasted anxiety of waiting.

  Not even the passive-aggressive waiting that says, “Really? We’ll see.”

Let us begin Advent, waiting.

  Getting up and joining the adventure,

  Even when we don’t know where it will take us.

  Shifting the impatient waiting to expectant living.

  Boldly claiming the Good News that we know will come.

  Waiting with joy as we reach out with the grace of God that is so much more than amazing.

Let us begin Advent.