Advent

So I'm working at a church now, and as we enter into the month of November, we find ourselves already in preparation for advent...despite the fact that it doesn't really start for another month. As I find myself in the midst of this preparation I also do some internalizing and thinking: Advent: means “the arrival”, one definition even goes so far as to clarify “especially one which is awaited”. For Christians, advent is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Where we celebrate the “hope, peace, joy, and love” that Jesus’ birth brought to the world. But what does that mean for me now, in 2013? What am I “waiting” for? Is it just the arrival of the Second Coming? Because, if that’s the case, it feels like a waste of time. Not because I’m not excited about Jesus’ Second Coming, and most definitely not because I’m not excited about heaven…whatever that may look like. But because if I spend my life “waiting” for the next thing then I’m missing out on what’s happening now. When you’re a baby, people can’t wait until you can start walking and talking, and of course the well awaited potty training (talk about an advent…). Then once the toddler stage hits, people can’t wait until you go to elementary school. Then once in elementary school you can’t wait to go to middle school. Middle school leads to High School, which leads to college. But it doesn’t stop there. There’s always another phase of life. After college it’s getting a job, then dating, getting married, having kids, sending them to school… and the cycle repeats itself. I’m single. And most people tell me to enjoy singlehood, because I’m going to miss it when it’s gone. But even my married friends experience this advent in their lives… this “next thing” because when you’re dating someone, it’s “when are you going to get engaged”, when you’re engaged, it’s “when are you getting married”, after your married, it’s “when are you having babies”?! At what point are we, and the people around us satisfied with where we are in life. Not saying that we can’t continue to be challenged and grow. But can’t we do that and still be content with where we are in life? For anyone who’s known me, they know that I’ve wanted to be married for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of the Prince Charming that would come and be a part of my life forever, and we would meet and fall in love in college, and live happily ever after. Well, I’m 29, no longer in college, and have all of one failed relationship under my belt. I’m still awaiting the “advent” of Prince Charming – or at least my version of him and who he may be in my life. But I’m trying very hard to be content. I’m trying very hard to love myself and love God so that when “he” walks into my life. I’m ready for him, and for the next phase of my life. And I won’t be one of those people who looks back on my single days and thinks, “if only I’d made the most of those days” or “if only I would have enjoyed them while I had them because I’m never going to get them back”. I want to make the most of the time I have now and the life I have now and not always looking ahead to what I don’t have. It’s like that saying “seeing the forest for the trees”. I’m in the trees right now, and I want to enjoy the beauty and serenity of what they have to offer me here and now, because days, weeks, months, and years from now they won’t be the same. And neither will I.