Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Waiting

Advent reading for today...how very applicable to us waiting adoptive parents too ;)

"Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient." James 5:7-8

"The waiting of the Advent figures in the first chapters of Luke's Gospel is not a passive waiting. They are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. Right here is a secret for us about waiting. If we wait in the conviction that a seed has been planted and that something has already begun, it changes the way that we wait. Active waiting implies being fully present to the moment with the conviction that something is happening where we are and that we want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, believing that this moment is *the* moment. God, forgive us for frequently living in fear of the future or in regret about the past. Help us to open our hearts to you each moment." Advent Meditations from the writings of Henri Nouwen

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Courtney for sharing Nouwen's advent devotional. . .I love the call to be present to right now. As much as we are longing to wrap our arms around our girls, we ARE to continue to wait expectantantly, giving our hearts to Him each moment. Again, I appreciate you taking the time to relay this to us. Truly, a gift to us today.
-Elizabeth, momma of Anna, who is curently living in PoYang with Elyza