Advent: The Holy Art of Waiting
Advent is waiting.
From the moment we are conceived, our whole life is a series of waitings. We wait nine months in the quiet darkness of the womb. We wait to walk, to speak, to read. We wait for love to find us, for wedding bells, for the first cry of a child in our arms. We wait for the mortgage to be paid, for the kids to sleep through the night, for college tuition checks, for the first grandchild’s tiny hand around our finger. And, whether we admit it or not, we wait for the last journey home to God.
That’s a lifetime of waiting.
The world tells us waiting is wasted time—something to endure, to rush past, to numb with noise and screens. But Advent whispers the opposite: waiting can be the most sacred season of the soul. In the hush of these four short weeks, the Church invites us to practice the holy art of waiting the way Mary waited—quietly, faithfully, full of expectant love.
While the stores blast Christmas carols before Thanksgiving, the purple candles remind us: not yet. The Lord is coming, but He asks us to wait with open hearts. And in that waiting, something beautiful happens. We learn that every moment we spend waiting is a moment we can love God and love our neighbor.
Don’t wait to pray until Christmas Eve—pray now.
Don’t wait to forgive until someone apologizes—forgive today.
Don’t wait to visit the lonely, feed the hungry, or comfort the sorrowful—do it this very Advent afternoon.
Mary didn’t wait until Bethlehem to say yes to God; she said yes the moment the angel left. Joseph didn’t wait until he understood the plan; he rose and took the Child and His mother by night.
So let Advent be our school of active waiting. Let every traffic jam, every long line, every sleepless night become a little Bethlehem where Jesus asks to be born again—in our patience, our kindness, our hidden sacrifices.
The waiting is not empty.
It is full of Him, if only we make room.
Come, Lord Jesus—not just on December 25, but today, in every moment we choose love while we wait.
Have a Blessed Advent,
Mike the Lesser