WEEKLY INSPIRATION

Dec. 3, 2009 — -- Waiting. ... Something our culture despises and dreads! Hours spent in doctors' offices and hospital waiting rooms; waiting for stoplights, test results and grocery lines. Waiting fills much of our days. But do we do it well?

Our naturally addictive personalities desire instant gratification -- for anything from food to information. We wonder how we ever survived before cell phones, e-mail and Blackberries! And yet, as we rely more and more on technology, are we really any more connected or happier? Are our lives any easier? Do these technological wonders truly benefit us with more free time to spend with our families and loved ones?

The church in her wisdom gives us the season of Advent in order to help us cultivate the art of waiting and the virtue of patience. For the four weeks prior to Christmas, we are spiritually encouraged to quiet our hearts in order to prepare for the Lord's coming more deeply into our lives and our world at Christmas. But how can we sing, "For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits," when we are living in the madness of retail mania? We fuel the frenzy by going from party to party, all the while singing about kissing Santa, as we decorate our homes and deck the halls. We don't really have the opportunity to "wait" because we are thrown into the chaos of living the Christmas consumer reality as soon as the candle in the Halloween pumpkin is extinguished! There never seems to be enough time or enough money to meet all of the expectations we put on ourselves as we prepare for the big day.

So, how do we tame this season of "Madvent"? How can we adopt an "attitude of waiting" that we can live out of every day? Henri Nouwen, one of the greatest spiritual writers of our time, had much to say about the "Spirituality of Waiting." He tells us that the real secret of waiting is knowing that the seed has been planted and that something has already begun. Like a farmer who waits for his crop to grow, or a mother who waits for her baby, they know that something has started and it allows them to wait. For the world, we have received the promise, and it is the promise that allows us to wait.