We are now into Advent, which is about waiting and preparation.

I feel that I know a little bit about waiting, although I also feel I need to learn a lot more as I am still pretty impatient. At times I still miss the fast moving YFC world where I had to think on my feet, make quick decisions and run through various task lists. But waiting is what I now do a lot of the time.

Over the last few years I have come to love the season of Advent. This may be partly due to selfish reasons in that, for this month at least, I don’t feel alone in my waiting. In Advent, the whole church waits in expectation and I grab loads of support from that. The other reason being that this season reminds me that waiting is something. It is a valid task. It is not just idling of time. Waiting has a purpose. Waiting is seasonal, and that means I won’t always have to wait! Waiting is not a permanent state!

Waiting is an interesting task.
Waiting can de-skill.
Waiting can cause you to question yourself.
Waiting can cause others to question to you.
In our culture of instant where we can buy anything now and pay later there is always a pressure to jump, to act. to be seen to be positively doing something.

Waiting can be difficult to understand. It is easy to avoid. It’s easy to cram up time with ‘doing’ rather than spend time ‘waiting’.
When I wait I think; I analyse and God seems to bring up stuff that I’d rather leave hidden.
Ideas arrive that I’d rather avoid; ‘stuff’ surfaces that I’d rather leave buried and undealt with.
Waiting eventually insists I act purposefully, often not in a way I would have guessed!

Waiting can bring pain. It can bring memories. Thoughts of inadequacy and past hurts can rush in to the void. It’s not nice, but it does force you to confront and do something. waiting is good preparation for stuff ahead.

Today, throughout this season … I look forward with anticipation to the wait.
Maybe, this advent, something will arrive.