Present for Advent

Life is busy, but I keep falling into that terrible rut of thinking of the future way too often and desperately wanting it to come as fast as it can. In a week I go to Texas, then Colorado, then good ol' Grand Rapids. That trip can't come soon enough. Then, while I am sleepily sitting in class, I look even farther down the road dreaming of the day when I will never sit in a class again. I swore in undergrad I would never go to school again... that lasted a whole year. These destructive thoughts drive me into a rut and I increasingly become dissatisfied with the present. Not good. My stomach gets all twisted with useless urges to unravel my future. Of course, I don't have the power to do that.

So, as I enter into the season of Advent, I need to focus more on today, enjoying today and living today as if today is that last day. That's what Advent is for, anticipating the second coming of Christ and we approach the annual celebration of His first coming. That means living this moment and patiently awaiting the future, because on God knows, today could be it.

"The liturgy of Advent helps us to understand fully the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea. Instead, it is necessary to understand that the whole of our life must be an 'advent,' a vigilant awaiting of the final coming of Christ. To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life. Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously." -Pope John Paul II