Christmas Advent is a time of waiting. I volunteer in our church infant nursery during Sunday School. There’s nothing like nestling with a newborn, their soft fuzzy heads laying just so on your chest, their padded bottoms cupped in your hand, feeling their butterfly breaths tickle your chin. I’ve been privileged to experience with our young families the mixed fearful anticipation and exhilarating excitement waiting together for their Advent newborns.
Nevertheless, some of us who are on the latter ends of life’s timelines are often trudging through angst. Gone are the days of waiting for a newborn’s arrival. We know for a fact that all Advent waiting is not laced with joy: waiting for a prodigal to come home, waiting for a treatment plan after a recent cancer diagnosis, waiting with a loved one on hospice.
I implore you to not settle on waiting alone. Reach out and even run to someone in your time of Advent just like Mary did with her cousin Elizabeth as told in Luke chapter 1. Mary ran to Elizabeth seeking an Advent partner to share in each other’s bewildering pregnancies. Waiting is tough. Don’t do Advent alone.
What are you waiting for? Who are your Advent partners?
How happy is she who has had faith that the Lord’s promise would be fulfilled?