an extraordinary time

“The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart…The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”

— Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark, pp. 2,3

This Sunday marked the first Sunday of Advent. I have grown to love the Advent season over the past few years - it has become for me a time that demands that I throw aside all things that distract (does the blog count as distraction? hhmmm), complicate, harry and hurry me and to invite in a deep silence that reveals the little good things - the real things - that actually matter.

Advent is a season of waiting in darkness for a light that will surely come; a light that has come and will come again. It is the truest, sweetest, and richest expectation and anticipation that has ever and will ever exist. And it will not last forever. This anticipation is an earthly anticipation, to be sure. When Christ comes again, the waiting will forever be over; it will be replaced with joy that I can't begin to wrap my mind around. And clearly, that's a good, good thing.

But don't you think there's something delicious about anticipation?

So because I know I won't be waiting forever, it is my goal to soak up every sweet second of Advent by stopping, being quiet, and listening significantly more than I am in the habit of doing.

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Isaiah 30:18