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To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways,O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. —Psalm 25:1-10NRSV Do you like to wait? Perhaps your first instinct is to answer, “No way!”, yet waiting has some advantages. No one likes to wait in line, but what about other types and times of waiting? Waiting allows desire and anticipation to grow, which can make the thing we wait for even sweeter when it comes. Waiting also teaches us patience and humility, two necessary virtues for living a peaceful and full life.Not being able to get everything we want, right when we want it, teaches us the value of things and of moments. Waiting also gives us room to prepare. Waiting gives us time and space to make ourselves and our lives ready for the thing that we anticipate. We would not do well with receiving a new baby the moment we found out one was coming, for instance. The months of waiting give us much needed time to prepare for the child’s coming in our home and for the changes to our lives and routines needed to accommodate the new arrival. The waiting gives us time for our hearts and souls to wrap themselves around the new reality and it gives us space for joy to grow. Advent is such a time of waiting. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. We wait, through the liturgy, for a Child—the Christ child. More importantly, we remember during Advent that we are indeed waiting on God. O my God, in you I trust. In this life, we have God with us, butGod is not fully revealed to us yet. We have already been given salvation, but we have not fully grasped it yet. We have already received Christ, yet we wait to completely and fully know Christ. We continue, in this earthly journey, to learn and develop, growing closer to God in faith throughout it all. We wait for the fullness of God. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. This Advent, take this time to prepare again for Christ. Add something to your daily or weekly routine that helps you better connect with God: scripture reading, prayer, giving, or service. Or, remove something from your routine that gets in the way: some television time, turn off the radio while driving, or fast from social media. Grow closer to God during Advent as we prepare for the Christ Child. Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Blessings to you always in the name of the One for whom we wait. Pastor Christine |