I like Advent; the waiting for Christ to come.  I like the anticipation of Christmas.  Maybe it’s partly because a woman figures so prominently in the Story.

Mary.  I like Mary.  Oh, I want to be like Mary!  Such abandoned faith.  She says yes to God, come what may.  “Be it unto me…”.

And then she waits.

And God, who is so perfectly faithful, comes.  The Holy Spirit comes upon her and she receives a deposit of God himself and Jesus grows inside her womb until it is time for her to give birth to him and present him to the world.  Such a magnificent offering and she is just a human being.  She is a woman just like us! 

And just like her, we too have been given a deposit of the Holy Spirit.  God himself is  inside of us!  And the world waits for what it is we will give birth to and offer.  Jesus himself – growing inside of us.  We carry him!  And we wait.  Wait for him.  Wait for more.  Wait with wonder and anticipation and agony.

And like Mary, we are enlarged in the waiting.  Our souls are enlarged.

Tomorrow, our son Sam is flying in, flying home, from his semester in Europe.  Tears fill my eyes just as I write that sentence.  I can’t sleep.  I have been lying awake in bed imagining him coming around the corner and seeing John and I underneath the “Welcome Home” signs I have made for him.  My heart is bursting with anticipation.

Coming home.  Going home.  A long awaited reunion.  Is this what Jesus is feeling like right now?  Anticipating his long awaited return?  My thoughts turn to him and I can not wait to see HIM.  To greet him!  To fall into his arms or at his feet and weep with joy and the release of finally being with him, my true Home.

My heart is being enlarged.  As I wait.  As I long.  Is his heart being enlarged too?  Could that even be possible?

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.  I will hold my son and kiss his cheek.  And it will be a foretaste of a homecoming that will be sweeter still.  Sweet beyond words.

I can hardly wait!