For parents of young children, the greatest challenge of Advent, is how to keep them occupied while they wait for Christmas. For a child, the wait seems endless, their only focus being the goal of unwrapping presents on the big day. But for adults there are an endless successions of goals to be achieved and the few short weeks of Advent don’t seem nearly long enough.
Well as for the children so also for the church, because for Christians Advent is not just about celebrating something that has happened, but also a looking forward with longing to the return of Jesus and his promised restoration of our world. After 2,000 years, the wait seems endless, but the Bible reminds us that God is not slow in keeping his promise, because for Him a day is as a 1,000 years and a 1,000 years as a day1. What’s important is what we do while we wait and again the Bible is clear – make God the centre of our lives, tell others about Jesus and make sure that we love one another as we would want to be loved.
My mum always kept me busy before Christmas by giving me things to do, and when I got on and did them the time seemed to go much faster.
12 Peter 3:8
