advent: a time of waiting and hope amid the holiday rush
The holiday season is in full swing! As we approach Advent, beginning Sunday, December 1st, there’s a palpable sense of excitement in the air. Advent marks the beginning of a sacred countdown to Christmas, a time when many of us eagerly anticipate the arrival of Christ. Yet, as meaningful and spiritually significant as this season is within the Christian liturgical calendar, it’s easy to overlook the true heart of Advent amidst the frenzy of the holiday rush. Between shopping, baking, and endless to-do lists, the quieter, more contemplative aspects of this time of year often get lost.
Advent, at its core, is a season for practicing expectant waiting and hopeful anticipation for the coming of Christ. It’s a time set apart, designed to invite us to slow down, reflect, and prepare our hearts. But slowing down can feel especially challenging during the holidays. Most of us can relate to the stress and emotional toll of managing everything: gifts to buy, meals to prepare, events to attend. Waiting doesn’t exactly sound appealing, does it? We long for the end of the rush, but the idea of slowing down and waiting can often feel uncomfortable and unnatural, especially in a world that prizes instant gratification.
Yet, I’ve come to realize that there is profound goodness in the seasons of waiting that God invites us into. As He reveals more of this truth to me, I find myself with a growing desire to resist the cultural madness of the Christmas season and instead find intentional ways to slow down and embrace the beauty of waiting.
Last year, I came across a video by counselor, spiritual director, poet, and host of the Living Poetry podcast, Susan Cunningham. In it, she reflected on patient waiting, and her words—rooted in St. Augustine’s Homilies on the 1st Epistle of John—changed the way I approach Advent. St. Augustine writes, “The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing. What you long for, is what you do not see, but longing makes in you room that shall be filled. And that which you are to see, shall come.” Longing, at its core, is painful—it’s the ache of desiring something we don’t yet have, something we can’t yet see. It touches a deep emptiness within us. And yet, Augustine’s words bring a new perspective: longing has a purpose. It creates space in our hearts, one that can only be filled by something to come. In the midst of our longing, God is preparing us for something beautiful.
To help us understand this, Augustine offers a vivid metaphor: “When you would fill a purse, knowing how large a present it is to hold, you stretch wide its cloth or leather, knowing how much you are to put in it. And seeing that the purse is small, you extend it to make more room. So, by withholding the vision, God extends the longing. Through longing, He makes the soul extend. By extending it, He makes room in it.” In her video, Susan Cunningham expands on this imagery. Just as a leather bag stretches to hold more, our hearts and souls can also stretch over time. And one of the ways God expands our hearts is through longing and the act of waiting. The more we long, the more our hearts are enlarged, creating a deeper capacity to receive the good gifts that God has prepared for us.
As we enter this Advent season, I find myself praying that we would all embrace the beauty of waiting—not as something to dread, but as something to cherish. The waiting creates room for God to do a deep work in us, preparing us to receive His gifts in a way we may not have been able to before. So, in the quiet moments of this season, let us pause, reflect, and lean into the waiting with hearts full of hope. God is at work in us, stretching us, and making room for the beautiful things He is preparing. Christ is coming and that is a promise we can hold onto, even as we wait!
Mary earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Washington and Lee University in 2018. After working in consulting and real estate development, Mary decided to follow her calling to become a counselor. In 2023, she earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Mary lives in Charlotte with her husband, Jay, and their French Bulldog, Adele. She loves good conversations with friends over the dinner table and enjoys hosting people in her home. A native Floridian, Mary loves the sunshine and will take any opportunity to spend time on the water!
