Do you hate to wait? Most of us do. And, yet, Advent is all about waiting. It’s about finding joy in longing. It’s about waiting for the unexpected to become the expected. It’s about anticipating the fulfillment of our desires. It’s about finally opening our hearts and allowing them to become a crib for the Newborn King.
Mary understood this waiting. She understood the longing and anticipation. She had desires for which she sought fulfillment. She waited for the unexpected to become the expected. Then one day, it happened. An angel appeared before her, proclaiming her graciousness and entrusting her with a mission like none other neither before nor since in human history. Her response was to open her heart, which indeed became the crib for the Newborn King.
This Advent, join Mary in her waiting. As you work through these daily, minute-long reflections, you’ll find your mind and heart slowing down…breathing…absorbing… Gradually you’ll become attuned to this most important time of waiting and growing. Before you know it, the crib of your heart will be ready for our Lord Jesus.
Excerpt:
Sunday of the Second Week of Advent
Oh, God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. Justice shall flower in his days, and profound peace, till the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. (Ps 72:1-8)
King Ahaz was a powerful ruler, revered for his position as king of Israel. In spite of his God-given power and responsibility, he ruled poorly and with questionable motives. Still, something good resulted from his reign, for from him sprang the root of Jesse and the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.
There are Ahazes in my own life – people who use their power and responsibility for their own deranged motives. Still, something good may result from their reigns. I must trust that in his wisdom and providence, the heavenly Father can make a beautiful bloom spring from the most rotten root. Justice shall flower in his days – my days – and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
Mary, there must have been Ahazes in your life, too. Yet, you made no move against them. Instead, you waited determinedly for the blossoming of the flower of God’s justice. Teach me that kind of determined waiting.
