Patience

It is Advent, and has been for three weeks now.

I have a very strict policy about Advent and Christmas. I don't allow myself to start counting down for Christmas until Advent begins. We don't decorate our apartment until the First of Advent, and even though it is one of the greatest pleasures of my life, I don't buy any eggnog until then either.

But once the first of Advent comes around, the decorations come out, the Christmas music starts playing and the eggnog starts flowing.

Advent, like Lent, is a period of waiting, of preparation. It is a time of repentance and of penitence. We make ourselves ready for the feast, and patiently count down the days.

David Widdicombe, the Rector of St. Margaret's gave a few sermons on patience recently. He talked about our tendency to call for patience in others mostly when we have lost our own. He talked about patience not only as a virtue, but as one of God's defining characteristics.

In the creation, God made space and time for creatures unlike himself. And this is the meaning of patience--making space and time for others. And now, in advent is, we have a time to practice patience. Not only to practice in the sense of rehearse, but to practice in the sense of to act out.

And although I am tempted to ask when my patience will finally be rewarded, when I can stop being patient, that is of course an impatient attitude. So I strive once again for patience as I make my way to Christmas.

Happy Advent