Advent and Waiting
Advent: a season observed as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the return of Jesus at the second coming.
This Advent season has been a very practical reminder of the hope and anticipation we feel as we wait our Lord’s return. We were told in mid-November that we could anticipate traveling to get Maria in mid-January. As this date is quickly approaching, we are awaiting a travel document which would allow us to call Maria an immediate relative. Once this document is marked approved, we will be allowed to apply for the next document and then the next… eventually giving us a date that tells us when to travel. This could still be late January, but as we wait it is impossible to tell when our go date really will be. It feels like someone has pushed my due date back a month!! Can you imagine telling a 9-month pregnant woman that she will have to wait another month? How about a 2-year expectant mother?
Through this season of waiting and anticipation, I have been thinking of my namesake, Anna mentioned in Luke 2:36-38. This Anna always brought a certain fear to me.. I think a fear of the life she lived. She was married for seven years, then a widow until she was 84 years old when she met Jesus. Her life is marked by worship and anticipation of redemption. This woman was special. In my mind, she was a holy super-Christian. She prayed and fasted night and day. She never departed from the temple. This sounds lonely and hard and not the life I would choose for myself. This is not the impression given by the text. She lives a life of service and receives a beautiful gift at the end of her life. She is able to see the one whom she has awaited! She give thanks! She tells everyone she sees! Her name is a legacy of a truly worshipful woman of God.
As I continue to wait with great anticipation, I am reminded that I am not only waiting for my beautiful daughter. As excited as I am to become a mama, this is one great gift in the speck of eternity. If Maria comes to us in one month or three, my job will still be to point her to One so much greater who has come and will come again.
