As most of you know, I teach Sunday school to the 3-5 year olds at our church.  Some of my favorite things about it is the energy that the kids bring to class (it can be a lot to handle at times but mostly is just fun) and the answers that they give to some of my questions.  Every now and then I like to ask my class to imagine how Jesus would respond to different situations, not as an adult, but as a 3-5 year old.  

The only snapshot we get from the Bible of Jesus between infancy and a 30-year old is a short description in Luke about how Mary and Joseph couldn’t find 12-year old Jesus after returning from Jerusalem after a Passover feast.  Imagine what Mary and Joseph must have felt!  Once they realized Jesus wasn’t with their group, they returned to Jerusalem and found him in the Temple talking with a group of teachers.  In response to his mother telling him she was worried about him, Jesus replied “didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s business?”  Wow!  What an experience it must have been like to parent the Son of God.

As a parent of two energetic little boys, it’s really interesting to me to think what it must have been like for Jesus growing up.  Did he ever throw temper tantrums? (I’m looking at you Owen…)  Was he a picky eater?  Did he ever push his parents’ buttons?  

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I smile thinking that the beautiful baby Jesus would grow up to be a little boy capable of such wisdom, but possibly a little bit of cheekiness as well.

When I think about Advent, I think WAITING.  In our modern times, waiting often conjures up images of passivity – standing in line at the DMV or grocery store, trying to make time pass by doodling around on our phones or considering our to-do lists.  As I have considered this state of “waiting” further, however, I have begun to realize just how active waiting can be.

Consider pregnancy (a very apt metaphor given why we celebrate Christmas).  Pregnancy is much more active than passive, and birth is an odd mix of the inevitability of the natural process and extremely hard work on the part of the mother.  During pregnancy, the mother must make an effort to nourish her body, get adequate rest, and make preparations for the new baby.  It can be a challenge to be present in, much less enjoy the waiting, but the waiting is utterly necessary to prepare both mother and baby for the birth.

Similarly, plants typically go through a “waiting” period each year – a hibernation of sorts.  Trees, through complex mechanisms known and unknown, sense the colder weather and shorter days and understand that they must store up their sugar energy in order to survive the winter.  In order to do this, they first absorb nutrients from their leaves into their branches, trunk, and roots.  As different nutrients are absorbed, the leaves change color, resulting in a spectacular show each autumn.  When the tree is stockpiled with energy, and the leaves have done their work, the tree grows a layer of cells between stems and leaves to signal the leaves to drop.  The tree spends the winter bare, no life in it as far as our human eyes can see.  But it has been preparing, waiting, storing up things in its heart, in preparation for the coming of new life.

For us humans, time marches on in a linear fashion.  We are here in Advent whether we like it or not, much as the trees are now forced to rid themselves of leaves and mothers for whom the labor pains have started are now in a process which cannot be reversed.  What can we learn from the trees and from Mary and other pregnant mothers?  How can we be present, striking a balance of quiet rest and contemplation, while also preparing for the beauty of new life?