Well, Advent has begun. The church universal is now collectively yearning for the coming on the Christ child to be born on Christmas day. What a wonderful time of year....a time that offers each believer the opportunity to reflect and meditate on the joy, peace, hope and salvation that Christ brought with him through his birth.
A wonderful lady in our church gave me a small book of Advent Meditations from the works of Henri J.M. Nouwen entitled the Lord is Near. In it, there is a devotion for each day of Advent. I have been taking some time out of my day to read and ponder each devotion...through it I have gained a new respect for Nouwen and his writing (Although, I have always been a big fan).
Monday's devotion was particularly interesting and moving. In Out of Solitude and based on Isaiah 40:9, Nouwen writes:
"A few years ago I met an old professor at the University of Notre Dame. Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny twinkle in his eyes; 'I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.'
That is the great conversion in our life: to recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just distracting interruptions of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and prepares us for his return. Our great temptations are boredom and bitterness. When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a stable government by a constant changing of the guards, and our desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give into to a paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness. But when we believe that patience can make our expectations grow, then fate can be converted into a vocation, wounds into a deeper call for deeper understanding, and sadness into a birthplace of Joy."
I think part of the glorious truth of Advent is that it calls us to a deeper patience...it asks us to dig deep down in the inner recesses of our being and uncover a patience that we never knew was there. I see so many well meaning believers sink into what Nouwen calls a "destructive bitterness" because things aren't going the way they think it should go in this world or in their own lives. But, Advent whispers to us to search for the "deeper understanding" and to allow the sadness in our lives to be tilled and prepared for joy to sprout and grow.
This Advent season, will you let God give you the gift of patience as you expect the coming of the christchild? Remember, God typically comes to us in unexpected ways...when our patience is almost up. Perhaps you are at the end of your patience in various walks of life...perhaps you are tired of waiting for that new job, your prodigal child to come home, your marriage to get better, your spouse to open up and really communicate with you or your work environment to get better....this Advent season allow the God of perfect timing fill you with a divine patience and a quiet strength to wait just a little longer.
