Waiting for the Sun and the Son

vineyard

This December, a series of daily Advent, devotional postings is running from December 1st to December 25th. Journey beside Mary, the Mother of God, as she waits for the birth of Jesus.

STRENGTH

Scripture: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and I hope for his word (Psalm 130:5).

Quote of the Day:

Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is “timing”
it waits on the right time to act,
for the right principles
and in the right way (Fulton J. Sheen).

Song Suggestions:
“While I’m Waiting,” by John Waller

Questions: What do I do when I wait?  How do I do it?  Do I wait with hope?

MIND

Remember how yesterday, we traveled to Heaven and saw what the Trinity was discussing?  Well now, let’s take a look at Mary’s point of view.

Traveling back in time to the first century BC, let’s go to a little village in Palestine called Nazareth. We’ll look more into the village itself tomorrow, but today, we will focus on the state of Mary as she waited.

Imagine a girl of about fourteen years. Her youthful face and gentleness are evident. She is a simple girl of average height. Perhaps her hair is a dark brown color and her tanned skin has hints of olive tones.

She rises from sleep before dawn with an eagerness to go on top of the roof of her father’s little house in Nazareth. Mary quickly takes her cream veil and sets it securely on her head. Taking her pale blue mantle, she wraps it around her shoulders. Careful not to awaken her mother and father, she walks out of the house barefoot and shivers as the cool air sweeps over her. The sun will be rising soon, and she doesn’t want to miss it.

Mary quickly makes her way to the wooden ladder that leads to the roof as she hears the roosters crow throughout the village. Mary climbs the ladder and reaches the top of the roof. Arranging herself, Mary sits on her heels and looks off to the east expectantly. Her gaze takes in the rolling hills that look nearly black beneath the sky. The bottom of the dark sky is already lined with a lighter shade of blue as the stars are slowly getting harder to see.

What does Mary do up here? She waits for the sun to rise. She knows it will come. She has every day of her life to attest to that fact. The sun will rise just as the moon sets.

HEART

This is just like us as we wait for the Lord. We know that the Lord is coming. We know that He comes daily into our hearts and that He will come to this virgin’s womb. We know He will come for us at death and that the second coming will eventually arrive. We don’t know how; we don’t usually know why. We don’t even know when. We just know that He is coming.

This is what we must do while we wait: we must trust that the sun will rise. God will answer our prayers. He will reveal Himself to us if we seek Him with our whole hearts (Jeremiah 29:13).  Mary didn’t know that the angel Gabriel was coming to her. She didn’t know that she would be the Mother of our Savior. She didn’t even know what the coming day had in store for her. But she knew God, and she knew that He has a plan.

Remember yesterday, how the Holy Trinity was discussing Their plan of redemption? Mary was still down in Nazareth waiting for God. Trust that in whatever situation you are currently in, God is doing the same. He is waiting for the perfect moment, and He will not fail.

SOUL

Perhaps we should try just sitting in silence for a few minutes to simply reflect and be in the disposition of Mary, waiting for the sun to rise.

After we have done this, let us pray:
Come, Lord Jesus, come. Fill my heart. Yesterday, I laid everything down before You, and now, the waiting begins. Help me to wait as Mary did.

Mary, teach me how to wait.

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6 thoughts on “Waiting for the Sun and the Son”

  1. Pingback: FRIDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit

  2. I would have no problem with the supposed virtue of Patience—if it wasn’t for that damned “mortality” thing.

    Are time-reversal and/or age reversals included among the many documented miracles? Is anyone aware of any such things? Because I haven’t learned of them.

    Is it not true that every moment of time lost—minute, hour, day, month, _ETC._—is a moment that will never return?

    Or am I wrong about that?

    I’m nearing the end of my forties, and am NOT getting any younger.

    With regard to my annoyance over the supposed virtue of patience, I would LOVE to be proven wrong…

    1. Hello! Thank you for reading my article. I am not sure I entirely understand your point. I will try my best to respond.
      When you say that every moment of time lost is a moment that will never return sounds true. But the cool thing is that God is outside of time and space. Say I forget to pray for someone’s surgery. Because God is outside of time, I can pray for that person several days after his/her surgery. I think that is so cool!
      So, patience is not a mortality thing, but I think it might actually be an eternity thing in which God enters our current time.
      Patience, then, is the confidence that God will act and in an other-worldly way, He has already acted because He is the Master of time.
      Does that make sense? Your writing is very philosophical and impressive. I hope my little mind can keep up with it 🙂

    2. an ordinary papist

      Sign over the entrance to an Alzheimer’s unit – The residents here do not know the day they only remember the moment. Stop looking back, we’re not going that way.

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