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FOR THURSDAY, ADVENT I
“How do you spend your time waiting? Do you patiently wait or do you look for ways to make it go faster?” by Gillianne Sharp, St. Paul's, Mobile
As a human, it feels like I am constantly waiting for something, whether it’s conscious or not. For tomorrow’s fresh start on grace and patience and forgiveness… For this red light to turn green so that I can get on with my task… For the oven timer to go off so I can eat my meal. And the beautiful and scary thing is, we have a choice for how we spend this time waiting. I find myself more often than not trying to speed up these waiting periods- by scrolling on my phone or distracting myself with a plan for peak productivity rather than being patient. But, down here on earth, I have a limited perspective of the outcome of my waiting. God is on the move in these moments and I miss holy things when I don’t choose patience and stillness while waiting.
As I currently wait for a whole new chapter of my life to unfold, I find myself focusing on all of the details. How will I spend time in my new city? Where will I make new friends? How will I excel at my new job? In doing this, I am missing the whole mystery that God so lovingly invites me into. As I have witnessed time and time again, our Father opens doors for us in His good timing. My goal is to remember God’s Sovereignty and to choose patience while waiting for these new doors to open, no matter how big or small I might hope for them to be. In these waiting spaces that feel so old and empty and bland- that’s where God is asking to meet us. That’s where He’s providing us with countless opportunities to strengthen our relationship with him and to love our neighbors more deeply.
My friends, take a breath. Ask God how you can serve Him in this- yes even this- long, tired, and weary period of waiting.
Reading for the week: Psalm 13
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain[a] in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Collect for the week:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Join us this Advent as we explore what it’s like to wait! We will be offering a collection of daily questions and reflections inviting us to consider what we experience and learn in our waiting, and how we find God - and God finds us - in our waiting.
Each Sunday a brief video will be shared on Facebook and Instagram to introduce us to a focus and reflection for the week. Each day a question will be posted for us to ponder. You are invited to share your own reflections by replying to these posts or reposting on your personal social media. Please follow and use #diocgcwaits. Be sure to follow our diocesan social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram; search: DioCGC.
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