| Advent often reminds us that we are in a season of waiting and preparing. If I close my eyes I can imagine Mary waiting through the last month of her pregnancy or Joseph waiting through the night for his son to be born. Waiting can be fun and transformative. It’s a wonderful state to be in if we know what we are waiting for. But, this year taught us all what it’s like to wait without a clear end. This year filled with illness both of bodies and spirits has forced us to wait for an unknown amount of time for an unknown end. This year has forced us to wade deeply into something we take for granted: faith. It’s easy to have faith when times are good. It’s even not so bad to have faith when times are bad if we know they will end or something good will come from it, but as we all closed our doors and slowed our lives down to a crawl, faith became hard. Maybe your fear overpowered your faith for a time. Or perhaps you were resistant and even rebellious. Faith tells us to be patient and believe even when there is no reason to. Even when you’re scared. Even when you’re angry. And this year, faith told us to wait. No matter how you waited, you still had to keep waiting. So what can we take away from this year of waiting? A feeling of presence. One of the greatest gifts of the pandemic was it required us to live in the moment while still preparing for an unknown future. We learned to capture every moment, to gain insight about ourselves, others and most importantly our relationship with God. We learned to prepare not for what we envisioned our future, but whatever God is asking of us. We had to be willing to prepare and wait for something that is not completely clear. I have faith that whatever this year was meant to teach you will become more clear if only you remember to have faith and a desire to follow your Baptismal call. What have you discovered about yourself this year? How has that prepared you for your future? |
Lori, what a positive spin you put on this waiting! What encouragement your letter can be to anyone who cares about not only growing apiritually, but hanging in there psychologicly. It is so frustating for persons who have to be isloated for such long periods and find it difficult to look forward to what they know not.
Thanks, Lori.