“Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know they are poor and incomplete, and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come, before which they can only bow in humble timidity, waiting until he inclines himself toward us – the Holy One himself, God in the child in the manger. God is coming; the Lord Jesus is coming; Christmas is coming. Rejoice O Christendom.”
This is my take away from this quote - Thus, just because we are restless, just because we are anxious in our waiting, does not mean that these weeks of Advent are not for us. Being restless, we can use this time to prepare, wait, and reflect. But our waiting is not to be passive. It is to be joyfully active.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945) - Lutheran minister, theologian, and activist. He was killed in the last days of WWII, trying to overthrow Hitler. His book The Cost of Discipleship is considered a classic.
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