Advent is truly my favorite time of year. Although many people experience this season as a rather chaotic swirl of parties, meetings, travel plans, gift wrapping, food prep etc...I am most entranced by the fact that this season celebrates God coming to us. God comes. Why is this so important to me?
I think at various times in my life--I am not sure where I am or where I am going. It brings me immeasurable comfort to know that in these times, God can come to me. God does not always expect me to figure everything out on my own and do all the work by myself. In fact, many times God comes to us--and for me, Advent is the representation of all those times when God comes when I need it the most.
Advent is also about waiting for this coming...I can get all flustered and look for bells,whistles, and fireworks--but often God shows up in things that you might miss if you were not attending to them. One thing about Mary...once she said "Yes" to God it was set in motion and was going to happen. She really couldn't do anything to make it all happen faster or slower--9 months is the general waiting period for pregnancy--but it was going to happen. I think the same is true for us. When we really say "Yes" to God--even if it is inaudible to others and is only whispered in our hearts--God hears, and the plan begins to unfold. It is going to happen.
So, in this waiting time...when God's arrival is immanent, what do we do? We prepare. Just like new parents who begin dreaming of how their lives change (they have NO IDEA really...), they get a room ready, purchase a crib, find clothes, diapers, dishes, bottles, etc...to do all they can to be READY--even though people who are already parents know all this preparation is mostly to give nervous people something to do. Because when the truth is told...could we ever really be ready for such a coming?
We think we know what it is going to look like. The people between the testaments had 400 years to prepare. You would think they would be ready. Or maybe they got tired of waiting. Or maybe they thought God forgot and had moved on. Or maybe they thought they had heard God wrong..or....whatever. Nobody thought a baby born in a stable could be God. THAT couldn't be the plan...and yet, that was EXACTLY the plan. And for those who were listening and watching for it--God let them know that indeed--it was happening before their very eyes.
So to me, Advent is a time of watching, waiting, and preparing--for surely God will come to us.
