The Story of Advent
December 22nd, 2022
Advent was something that I didn’t know much about until my family joined University Baptist Church, so most of my thoughts on this time of the year come from piecing together others’ long held traditions and beliefs. One particular facet of Advent that has always stood out to me was the idea of waiting.
There are times when I am very good at waiting…and times when I am just completely terrible at it. Most of the time, waiting comes with anxiety; waiting comes with fear or sometimes even bitterness. I can only imagine what waiting for the coming of the Savior felt like; the rumors, the hope, the “maybe this is He;” we all feel the eager anticipation of the return of our Lord and what that will be like one day.
When we were younger, my grandmother used to say that my brother, like his uncle before him, thought Christmas Eve was an eternity. He would beg to open presents first and eat later. How often do we feel that way about life? Just let me have what I want, I promise I’ll still be thankful for it! We live in a world that is geared around instant gratification, and often we forget about the sweetness of anticipation in light of the anxiety of expectation. In striving for patience–real patience, in our hearts–we strive to see what God has for us, and not settle for what we want at that moment. We may never completely understand why we are asked to wait, but as we are reminded in the Christmas season through the observance of Advent, there is beauty in waiting.
- Linsey Brown