We tend to think of advent and waiting and we think of waiting as something passive. But ask a couple who are expecting a baby if waiting is a passive thing. For most couples I know it is a crazily busy time. From the moment they find out, it is an emotional time, a combination of excitement and fear. There are, what seem to be, a million details. Life is totally transformed. They are no longer just a couple; they are parents.
We are 24 days from Christmas. Imagine if today you were told with certainty that you have 24 days. What would you do with them? Who would you call? Who would you visit? Who would you forgive? From whom would you ask forgiveness? When would you make time to go to confession?
We tend to live our lives as if there is always tomorrow. We waste time on the trivial. For a million different reasons, we avoid the important, the necessary. We spend more time watching TV or surfing the net than we do talking to the people we claim to love.
As we begin a new year, the reading are a stark reminder.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
As we count down the days to Christmas, let us behave as if we were counting down to the second coming. Along side the list of presents, make a list of people to call, the calls you want to make and the calls you need to make. Pray as if you have only 24 days and counting. Let us live with that combination of excitement tinged with fear that is the mark of expectant parents, as we pray,
Come Lord Jesus Come!
