Third Sunday of Advent – Cycle A
Reflecting on James 5:7-10
It’s easy to tell someone to be patient, and so hard to actually do it. Our children need us to watch them closely, but they also need enormous amounts of “looking the other way” as they mature and eventually find their way in the world without us.
Our aging parents need our patience. As they deal with the greatest losses in life―loss of health, loss of memory―they need us to care for them, finding creative ways to help them recover strength and well-being in an increasingly unsettling world.
We need to be patient with ourselves, too. Real change―changes in how we eat, how we live, how we regain strength after surgery or an illness―will surely come. Just as the farmer awaits the yield of the soil by waiting for both the early and the late rains, we watch ourselves for the changes we work on little by little through the years.
Last spring I had an ingrown toenail removed. The whole event took about six months. The new nail grew in as the old nail died. I could actually see the boundary between death and new life every time I examined my toe. We don’t see that transition as clearly in other parts of our lives until, one day, we look at someone we love and ask, “When did you get so tall? So beautiful? So self-assured? When did you grow into yourself?”
Patience, people. God is surely at work in us, giving us grace and insight as the years go by. Watch for the changes in yourself that signal that the Lord has been near all along.
Sharing God’s Word at Home:
How can you help God help you make a real change?
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I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).