WAITING

We are now in the church season of Advent.  This is a season of waiting and of expectation.  As I have been thinking on this for the last week or so, I realized that it is a true season of waiting for me.  I have been praying for contentment during this time, because I tend to spend a good deal of the time during waiting seasons trying to get to the other side.  Expectation is a great thing, but I have found that there are many beautiful experiences during the waiting that I miss out on when I am focused on what I expect to happen.  It is very possible that I miss out completely on the joy of the "coming" of an event because it did not occur like I expected it to.  Does this sound familiar?  Some of the things I love about the Christmas season are the quiet opportunities it offers up for reflection.  This Advent season I am going to sincerely try to be still and wait joyfully.  I am going to strive not to miss out on life's joys because I am focusing on what is next in my life.  I pray that I will be able to live each day in an attitude of expectation.  Not the expectation that all will go as I plan, but in the expectation that God's hand is on my family and that He is working in and through our lives to bring about something beautiful.