the seeking and the finding

So this is my contribution to our church's Advent devotional for this year:

A psalmist cries out, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” A prophet proclaims the coming messenger. A barren couple prays for a miracle. Today’s texts overflow with the eager anticipation of prayers not yet answered.

We live in that tension, too. Our health fails and we pray for healing. Our assets fade and we pray for security. Our assignments pile up and we pray for wisdom. Sometimes we get mired in that tension, harnessed by the not-knowing, and all we can do is wait for the resolution.

For me, one of the deepest gifts of Advent is the precious gift of time. Advent teaches us that the waiting can be sacred, too. Life is whole not just in conquest and resolution, in answers and certainties, but in the tension itself, in the questions and the worries and the hopeful expectation, and most of all in the praying. Advent reminds us that life is sacred in the seeking of God’s face, and not just in the finding.