Waiting

Here's a little slice of my life in photos. The first and the last are the reminders of Christmas that my roommate and I have strewn about the room. The second is a peek out at the (still snow-less) view from our window. And then there's the makeshift calendar I scribbled on the back of a class handout so that I could remember that the end of finals is coming. Even better, though, Christ is coming.

Advent is one of those seasons that is sometimes overlooked. I've never really given it more than a medium amount of consideration before, but this year was different. I attend daily Mass frequently, and  my prayer life has grown into what I didn't know I wanted it to be all along. I find myself giving different daily activities up to God, such as working out and getting homework done early. I'm definitely not perfect about this. I spend way too much time looking at dresses on Modcloth or reading cooking blogs, and then an hour has gone by and I've done absolutely nothing of real value.

In the brief moments when I return to my room and sit on my futon, still wearing my winter coat and clutching my pink mittens in one hand, I lean my head back and remember that God Himself came down to earth and at one time felt cold and weary. Then I stand back up, remove my coat and boots, and figure out how much of Gulliver's Travels I should be reading. The silent waiting of my soul as I go about my day-to-day work, that's what advent is about. In a week, the waiting will be over, but it will not have been meaningless. This year was the first year that I realized I should be preparing my heart for Christmas, and the only way to do that is to wait.

All the pictures above appear hazy and dull, but that is actually quite apropos, for waiting points to the fact that something better is coming. And that something is Emmanuel, "God with us."