Perhaps you remember being a young person going somewhere with your parents and asking, “How Long . . . ” before we get there, before we can turn the radio station, before we can get out and change seats, so I have a turn in the front, or the back, or by a window. Maybe you remember being at work and saying, “How Long . . . ” before lunch, before break time, before this shift is over, or I can go home. Or maybe you remember being a patient in the hospital and wondering, “How long” before, a nurse will come in and check on me, give me a pain med, or “How Long” before the Dr. will release me to go home? Perhaps you remember being a young child, childcare worker, or stay at home mom and asking, “How long before Daddy or Mommy gets home?” There are so many times we ask ourselves, “How Long” This time of year we hear a lot of young people asking, How Long before Christmas?
There are Advent Calendars for children and adults with bits of chocolate hidden behind little doors and windows painted with pictures and numbers. Some are paintings of Santa Claus, others are paintings about the birth of Jesus. There are those who complain about Santa Claus getting so much attention, when Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. How Long before Santa comes? How Long before we can open our presents? We can be annoyed by the complaints or by Santa, or by Jesus, or by the question How Long? We can choose to teach our children something about the value of waiting. There are lessons we can learn together. When everything isn’t ready yet, we have to wait – someone is preparing something – and while we wait, we have some things to prepare as well.
We can take this time of the frequent How Long before questions, for teaching that we are preparing ourselves for something bigger than the presents we see in the stores, on ads, and under the tree. We are preparing ourselves for something bigger than the gifts of food, clothing, books, household things, gadgets and toys we want or give. We can take this time to remind ourselves about our need to prepare ourselves for the presence of the Lord in our lives and relationships.
How long, we often ask, before God answers our prayers. We might do better to ask, How long before I decide to reconcile myself to the fact that I am to be active participant in the answering of prayer? What if we thought about the possibility of God asking, How Long before my people, those whom I created in my own image, love me, love themselves, love other people? What if we are an answer to the prayers of our Lord and Savior as outlined in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17.
God’s Love was given flesh when Jesus was born. We were created in the image of God. Then God gave himself the same flesh we were given, so he could live in our presence and we in his. Let us pray,
Lord, thank you for loving me (us), especially in my (our) times of weakness and trouble. Thank you for coming to live among us. Thank you for teaching us about true and pure love. Thank you for praying for us. Thank you giving us the knowledge of the Gift of Your Holy Spirit and your desire to give us this same Spirit of Holiness. Please, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and teach us, Lord, how to love you, ourselves and one another as you do. AMEN
