More than any other time of year, I am aware during Advent of what it means to "wait," though without the benefit of a timetable for that "waiting."  Advent means "coming" and it is derived from the Latin in adventus. With every arrival, there is a period of waiting beforehand. 


I cannot even imagine the patience required by the Israelites as they waited some thousands of years for their Messiah to arrive. Patience is still required of us, believers in Jesus Christ, as we study his earthly life and await his second coming. After all, his return serves as a prelude for our absolute destination, where we will al be together with our God in paradise, where we will wait no more. 

Until then, we must attend to our good works, done in his name. This requires much patience and trust in God's will for us. Sometimes, we receive rewards quickly, and other times we must wait for them. Serving those around us to meet their needs, without expectation for any repayment, forgiving those who hurt us for no reason we can discern, teaching little children who cannot yet express their feelings or gratitude- we do all these things without expectation of reward because we know God loves us when we live our lives through these acts of charity and kindness. 

We know that our efforts to spread our seeds among the fields will be enough to provide for us, because the one who grows these seeds is God. Our faith must temper our waiting, as it did for for the Israelites. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for." (Hebrew 11:1-2)  

Acting and waiting without faith is difficult to carry on for too long, and it rarely produces good results. Everything we do should be done based on our strong faith in God; we rely on Jesus' teaching and guidance by the Holy Spirit, and we live in anticipation of his arrival. During this Advent season, I hope we can all recall what we have learned and experience throughout our lives, guided by God's will and grace.