During the season of Advent we are called to wait and be ready for the coming of the Lord. The gospel of Mark tells us that there will be blessings when we take up our cross to follow the Lord, and there will be persecutions as well. Living the faith has its rewards but does not come easy.
Watching and waiting are themes I have gotten used to over these past nine months, as we witness the progression of the pandemic around the world. “When are you coming, Lord?” is a question that resonates with me on several levels. Like the powers of darkness in the scriptures, there are powers of evil in the world that would divide and destroy us–selfishness, lack of compassion, greed, alienation, divisiveness, racism, xenophobia, etc.
So we watch and we wait. But our waiting is not sitting back and doing nothing. It’s an active waiting, a hope-filled attention to God’s self-revelation in my life, ready to do what needs to be done, ready to take up the cross of self-giving love. One of the lessons of the pandemic for me has been the realization that we depend on each other more than we realized. Perhaps it is the same in our relationship with God.
Walking about with my camera allows me to practice an active waiting, casting a loving look on the world around me, grateful for the beauty of God’s creation and grateful for the role I am called to play in it. Come, Lord Jesus!
“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when your time will come.'” (Mark 13:33)
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Thanks for another great collection of photos. I like your phrase “active waiting”. At first it seems like a contradiction in terms, but on further reflection, we see the meaning.
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Thanks, Lynn. I like to think of the time Mary spent waiting for the birth of Jesus as active waiting, preparing for the coming to birth of God’s Word in her life and what it might mean for her.
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