Not EXPECTING in a season of WAITING and PREPARING

Tis the season to be… what are we called to be in this Advent season?  

I think that in the past two weeks alone I have been upset, sensitive, happy, humbled, joyful, anxious, thankful, and angry.  Those are just some of the emotions which I have felt through the past few weeks as I suffer loss, begin to wrap up a semester, work to see friends before the holidays, and expect (in perhaps a dangerous way) certain things to be coming for me this Advent season.  As we talked about the danger of expectations at community group last night I couldn’t help but think about what I am going through right now, or how dangerous it is for me to be expected Martin to come here in a few weeks when I really have no idea if he will or will not get a visa.  I think that I could say “tis the season of expectations” but I fear that is too dangerous, and so my hope is to alter that into a season of praise and peace in the unknown.  Praising Christ for all I have, whether it is near or far away.  I am thankful for the gift of love and I am humbled by the friends who have kept me up late this week because those nights were very precious and beautiful nights with friends.  I am realizing that whether I want to understand what is to come or not, I will not.  Being a senior, I am in a season of not knowing. 

Continuously in life we are faced with the unknown and with change.  The major changes in my life have created a space for me to learn about something I don’t think I could have otherwise.  That is what studying abroad was for me.  I didn’t think it was going to be easy to leave everything and everyone I loved when I went abroad but I knew that there was something more amazing than I could understand waiting for me at each new destination.  Each trip I didn’t just discover another gorgeous church or piece of art, but the chance to discover something about myself on each trip.  Life offers us the chance to learn about ourselves at each and every turn and at each and every place that we go.  

Prayer: May we see Advent as a time of WAITING for the coming of Christ and may we be PREPARING our hearts for that.  Let us see the beauty in preparing a way for Christ and let us seek the Lord as we wait for his coming this Holiday season. 

*Note: This blog was written quickly and in the midst of exams/projects, but I felt compelled to write and then share what I had written.