Waiting is something that can challenge even the most patient of believers.
Yet as kin through Christ we are called to be alert during seasons of waiting and during this Advent journey.
As I struggle with my own attentive waiting, I am thankful for artists such as Lauren Wright Pittman, who offers the following…
“‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.’ (Mark 13:32-33). I heard the ticking of clocks grow loader and felt anxiety crawl in my stomach. This text gives me a familiar feeling—it’s the feeling of being out of control; a feeling of looming, almost mocking, unknown.
What am I supposed to do with this text? Are we to anxiously wait around for “the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory?” Are we to sit though in a waiting room with ticking clocks, on the edge of our seats waiting for the alarm to sound? Are we to be immobilized by mystery?
Waiting isn’t going to cut it. I need to do something, and I desperately need light to break in.
In times of confusion, especially in scriptural texts, I try and find an anchor to hold onto, and often that anchor is repetition. Repeatedly, in various ways, the text says, keep alert. Keep awake; beware. All I know to do is keep awake—to keep pointing to the miraculous signs of God’s love and light breaking into the world, to work to bring more of that light in and break down those things that seek to block light—until light swallows up the darkness.”
In the midst of confusion…. God’s love and light breaks through.
In the midst of anxiety…. God’s love and light breaks through.
In the midst of waiting…. God’s love and light breaks through.
How and why are you attentively waiting?
Please know that you are not alone on this journey. We walk this path together, and God continues to miraculously speak into each and every one of God’s created.
Peace,
