My five year-old son, Will, asked me yesterday, “Daddy, how long is it until Christmas?”  A question being asked to parents all around the world at this time of year.

“Two weeks”, I responded.

“But I don’t know how to wait”, he mumbled with the cute/innocent/anxious spirit of a child.

He was right. We often don’t “know how to wait” for Christmas. The season of Advent leading up to Christmas is meant to be a time of expectant waiting (the latin word adventus meaning “coming”). But in our anxiousness and uneasiness with “waiting”, we often fill our time dashing from place to place, checking off our ‘to do lists‘, and sprinting toward December 25th. Our style of “waiting” delivers panting breaths rather than peaceful stillness.

So, the challenge continues again this year – To set intentional moments between now and Christmas to slow down, embrace time with family and friends, give unconditionally, remember those in need, and reflect on our lives through a lens of gratitude. It’s in those intentional moments that our “waiting” dissolves and the true spirit of Christmas arrives.

Let the waiting continue…

“Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my doors,

waiting at my doorway.” – Proverbs 8:34

Jason Barger, 11-time Amor leader and author of the book, Step Back from the Baggage Claim: Change the World, Start at the Airport