Seems like a fitting way to approach Advent, sitting here, waiting for hours on end in the hospital emergency department.  Have you ever found yourself forced into waiting, all the while with a to do list that would rival the Oxford Dictionary in length?  It’s a frustrating feeling, but only until you surrender yourself to the wait.  Then it becomes somehow freeing.  There is nothing I can do right now besides read to my sick darling, tickle her arm, and just be a comforting presence to her.  So that I will do with all my waiting heart.  Let the to do lists and Christmas lists and homeschool planning lists and grocery lists learn a bit of patience themselves.  Let them wait!

There was a huge, round, yellow moon peeking over a cloud on our drive to the hospital tonight.  By the time we arrived it had climbed above the clouds, showing us its misty beauty.  I looked with eyes wide open, knowing that when we emerged hours later from emerge it would look completely different.  Its beauty wouldn’t be put on hold just for us.  We had to receive it for the gift that it was in that moment.  And we did, as I remarked to C-Bear that I’m convinced it brings joy to our loving God when we enjoy the beauty of all that He has created.  

 
These waiting room moments are like that “moon moment”.  They too are fleeting, not to be put on hold or rewound and repeated.  Maybe if I open my eyes wide enough, I’ll find even more gifts to be grateful for.