Advent….A time to get ready… But ready for what; in this modern world of instant messaging and sound bites, we are not use to having to wait. We want and expect everything to happen now, this second. We see it in all we do. Just stop for a second and look around you and you will see that what we want is delivered the instant we want it. Flick on the TV, and I bet you will find a VOD channel (video on demand), or go online, and you will see that you can down load the latest movies to watch, stop at any fast food restaurant or go in to any corner 7-11. The world is at our hands, and its available now, this instant.
On their own they are not bad, there is nothing wrong with wanting a hot cup of coffee in this 
moment, nor is there anything wrong with wanting to watch a movie when you have the free time. The problem is not the technology nor is it the availability, the problem, as always, is the human condition. We translate this MTV, 60 second sound bite world in to our own world.
How many times have you heard people say they just want to feel good now, or heard them say that in this moment the only wish… (Fill in the blank). We have forgotten how to wait, we have forgotten about delayed gratification, and we work towards instant gratification. We want the pleasure now; we expect it and demand it!
Advent… A time to get ready, a time of preparation and waiting…
Jesus waited 30 some years before he started his ministry, then another 3 years before he lived out his ministry. We, as humans have been waiting from that time until now for the full effects of his ministry. But as time has moved on, we have lost the art of waiting; we have lost the feeling of anticipation, and the mystery of the unknown.
Advent, a time to allow us to slow down, a time to regroup and find what we have lost. A time for delayed gratification, a gratification that may not come today, or is four weeks, a gratification that we may never experience here on earth.
So what are we preparing for, if we may never experience it? Why bother?
The birth of The Christ Child, the one day is human history that will be like no other, the day God became man (or human for all the liberals). The day that God graced by become us; we prepare for the glory that was, and the glory that will be.
God humbled himself, become a broken creation, and became that witch he wanted to fix, became broken in order to heal us. The human race has been in the healing process from that day forward, we have waited in anticipation for the healing to be done, but now it seems the human race is no longer willing to wait. The human race is looking for the quick fix, the magic pill, the miracle on 34th street. We expect and demand that we feel better now, if fact we feel we have a right to feel better, that God owes us this for all the suffering we have lived through.
Advent… A time of reflection, but not reflection on how we feel our lives should be, but rather on how God wants us to live our life.
Advent, a time of preparation for the birth of our savior, Jesus the Christ, God on earth
Stop all the instant expectations, place them on hold and truly reflect on your life, the life that Jesus came to save, the life that God created in his image, the image of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has waited over 2000 years for humans to become what he expects, the least we can do is wait for gratification a few years more.
Paul
p.s. Thanks for waiting for me to get back from my trip to start blogging once again…
The STATIC Shop
View Point: Paul 