Clay in the Hands

The Christmas season is upon us.  If you have made a trip to Walmart you have seen the decorations – in fact, that has been possible since August.  I love this time of year.  I enjoy the gatherings of family and friends.  I look forward to the music and caroling.  Hot chocolate, food, football.  All the sights and sounds of this season bring a smile to my heart.

But the most important part of this season is the celebration of the coming of God to the world.  This year, I challenge you to begin Advent with clarity.  The word advent is actually from the Latin word – adventus – which is translated “coming.”  The purpose of celebrating Advent is to celebrate the “coming” of Jesus to live among us.

The season of Advent begins four Sunday’s before Christmas Day and continues through the month of December, culminating on that sacred day – the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.

It is a season of anticipation – of waiting.

Few of us enjoy waiting.  I must confess, waiting is not my strong suit.  I live at break-neck speed most of the time.  My shoes show the wear pattern of someone in a hurry – or so I have been told by more than one shoe repairperson.  Waiting takes me out of my normal pace.  It forces me to pause and sometimes stop.

Advent is about waiting.  Waiting for the coming messiah to be born.  Waiting for God to arrive.  It is in our waiting that we are reminded that we are not in control.  It is in our waiting that we truly begin to look for God.

I talk to people everyday who are waiting.  Waiting for healing.  Waiting for answers.  Waiting for relationships to mend.

Waiting . . .

Remember that waiting forces us to look outside ourselves.  Waiting reminds us that everything is in God’s time and in God’s control.  Waiting reminds us that God is God and we are not.

So this Advent season, remember to focus on what is of primary importance.  God loved us so much that he sent his one and only son to become one of us.  With the people of old, we anticipate his coming.  We wait for his revelation.

Praise be to God!

He is coming!

So we wait with anticipation!