God has no express lane.

Advent is the liturgical season of vigilance or, to put it more commonly, a season of waiting. During the weeks before Christmas, we light the candles of our Advent wreaths and put ourselves in the spiritual space of the people of Israel who, through many long centuries, waited for the coming of the Messiah.

From beginning to end of scripture we discover stories of people who are forced to wait. The patriarch Abraham received a promise that he would become, despite his old age, the father of a son. But the fulfillment of that promise was a long time in coming. Through many years, as he and his wife grew older and older, as the likelihood of their parenthood became increasingly remote, Abraham waited. Did he doubt? Did he wonder whether he had misunderstood God’s promise? Did his faith falter? Probably. But he waited, and in time the promise came true.

In the course of the Christian tradition, there is much evidence of this spirituality of waiting. Many of the saints realized they were being called by God to do great things. But before they found their path they often passed through a wide variety of experiences over many years: often with times of stark asceticism and prayer, sometimes living hand-to-mouth and sleeping in doorways. Only at the end of this long journey is the will of God made clear-showing the saints the great things God called them to do.

All of this, I believe, is very hard for most of us. I suppose we humans have always been in a hurry, but modern people seem especially to want what they want when they want it. We are driven, determined, goal-oriented, fast-moving. I, for one, have difficulty waiting for just about anything.

For some reason, this year is a bit different. Although the responsibilities are plentiful and time seems short, there is an inner patience that has grown out of – I don’t know where. I credit God’s dealing with me for this. More and more, I see God as standing outside of space and time. More and more, I see the plan of God being worked out not by me but by God’s people – in God’s good time. My task is to wait – to do what I am called to do when I am called to do it.

While I am still not ready to be a devotee of jigsaw puzzles (and the time it takes to complete them), I find that such things come into mind I do not reject them out of hand so quickly. I actually see myself entering into that experience – creating true leisure – the time it takes to wait.

Perhaps as this Advent unfolds, I will let what eighteenth century spiritual writer Jean-Pierre de Caussade said sink in: "Whatever happens to you in the course of a day, for good or ill, is an expression of God's will." 

-- thanks in part to Rev Robert Barron for the core idea for this post.