Watching for Jesus (1)

Scripture for reflection: Matthew 24:42-51 

 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

 ~ Psalm 130:5-6 

 * * * 

Most of us think of waiting as something very passive, a hopeless state determined by events totally out of our hands. The bus is late? You cannot do anything about it, so you have to sit there and just wait. It is not difficult to understand the irritation people feel when somebody says, “Just wait.” Words like that seem to push us into passivity.

But there is none of this passivity in scripture. Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. That’s the secret. The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.

                         ~ Henri Nouwen (in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas)