Waiting Well: Preparing the Ground for Change

Advent is a time of waiting – for a birth, for a coming, for the turning of the world. In this waiting season, as tough as it is, spiritual grounding comes from practising to wait well.

Waiting is hard. There is a kind of anxiety that sets in when we’re in the unknown, when we wait to see what happens, when we have no control over the outcome. As people of God, we are not alone. While we wait for the good news or bad, for the way forward or the step back, for the new life or the return of the old, we open ourselves to the universe and all it has for us.

Our openness to God transforms waiting into a spiritual practice, because seeking Divine Presence calms our fears, waiting in Divine Mystery soothes our pain, Living in Divine Hope frees us from anxiety. We can make it through whatever is coming because we are surrounded by love and carried by grace. That is what it means to Wait in Hope, even amid struggle.

Even so, it’s important to remember that waiting is not powerlessness. Though so many of our hopes are “not yet”, there is a new day around the corner. There is a new beginning with the next move, or the new job, or finding a new friend. The key is to wait expectantly – knowing that when we wait with God, renewal will come: something beautiful will be forged out of these struggles, some joy is waiting to be experienced, some rebirth is waiting to sneak up on us if we wait with our lives open and our hearts full.
Wait expectantly. Be prepared for setbacks but believe that we can shape our world into something beautiful.

Waiting is not virtuous in itself. It doesn’t bring us anything if we’re stuck while we wait. And good things definitely don’t come to the world if we’re just sitting around waiting for the world to change, with all due respect to John Mayer.
So while we’re waiting for the world to change, we need to wait with purpose – we need to use our time wisely. While we wait, we can dream about the future we want to create. While we are waiting, we can build the skills to achieve our goals. While we are waiting, we can forge alliances and make friends with folks who share our vision of the future. While we are waiting, we can prepare for the world to change.

And maybe that’s the most important use of our time when we’re waiting – preparing the ground so that the world will change one day. Because a better world will not build itself. We can’t change our lives with a wish, but we can make one step towards more wholehearted living. We can’t change the future with the snap of a finger, but we can be part of a more just society.
This Advent, as we wait for the hope of the World to be born once again, we wait expectantly. We prepare ourselves for the day when something shifts and a door is opened and we are ready to walk through because we made good use of our waiting time.
We wait for this miracle of “God With Us.”We Wait Expectantly. We Wait in Hope. We Wait with Purpose. This is what it means to Wait Well.

Happy Advent, Merry Christmas to all of You.

Rev. Joanne Anquist is also minister at McDougall United Church, Calgary, AB.