Why Wait?

This Advent, I have had the time to listen to others.  Here's one piece of wisdom I read today:

Advent is a season devoted to waiting.  It is a time when we celebrate waiting, honor those who waited for the coming of the Messiah, and seek to learn something about how we might join them in waiting for the Spirit of Christ to be born again in our midst.  But waiting is difficult for most of us.  In this era of instant gratification, as the world is put in fast forward, even our limited capacity to wait has diminished still further.  It seems as if, among all the things we no longer have time for, we no longer have time to wait. 

As challenging as it can be to wait, however, certainly it is preferable to the alternative.  Those who have ceased to wait generally are those who live without hope.  When all that you see around you is all there is to be, then there is no need to wait.  But there is also no hope of progress, movement, revelation or transformation.  To wait is to be open to the future.  To wait is to be open to God. 

 If you'd like to read the rest of this reflection, go to this link.