Advent is waiting

We are in the Advent season. It is the four-week preparation for Christmas.

I have made a resolution for this Advent. I am not going to play any Christmas song. I will let Advent be Advent, a period of waiting, a period of longing. I hope that as the days advance, the longing for Jesus will be more intense.

I know that in the coming days I will be bombarded by Christmas songs, Christmas lights and decorations, parties here and there, Christmas greetings to send, gifts to pack, etc.

In many ways, instead of preparing us for Christmas, these things make us tired and, at times, exhausted, to really celebrate Christmas when it comes.

This year, I will not rush Christmas. I will let Advent be Advent. I will watch and pray. I will wait. It is not easy. Our society is quite allergic to waiting. Everywhere quality is measured when waiting time is lessened or totally cancelled.

But it is in waiting that we come to discover and fortify the strength that is already within us. Waiting purifies us. Waiting makes us see what it is that really matters in our lives.

Waiting requires discipline. But more than discipline, waiting needs a soul in order to persevere.

We wait in hope even when the waiting is long.

We wait in faith because we believe that God is true to His word.

We wait in love because God has loved us first.

Advent is waiting in hope, faith and love.