Advent Thoughts (6)

ADVENT AS A PROCESS OF INTERNALIZATION AND GROWTH

A child is in history and yet not fully historical; is and is not yet; is a microcosm of things to be; is a process of hope in action. Like a child, advent is a process of hope in action. With God’s ways as our guiding star we can begin as God does, with little things. When God would grow a tree, He plants a seed. When he would build a universe, He begins with an atom. When he would change the hearts of men, He sends a babe to a manger (Templeton).

There is a need to start with the ordinary things within our reach. It is vital to have visions and dreams, but hope does not spring from dreams alone however great they may be. Wedded to the dream must be the act. . . “If you love me, do my commandments.”

Advent is this curious and endearing mix of a child called to maturity, a growth so gradual and sensitive that it beggars all description. When we find ourselves in a mess and so cluttered up, then it is time for advent once more, a time to go back to square one, picking up bits and fragments of shattered dreams, placing them together again according to God’s master plan. “He who does not gather with me scatters.”