Advent: Preparation

It’s the story of Simeon that always leads me down a long road of self-reflection.
Found in Luke 2, Simeon is a “righteous and devout” man waiting for the One who the world was waiting for. As it says in verse 26, “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”

What a revelation.

How do you begin to tell your family and friends and church that THIS is what God revealed to you?
How do you handle the news?
Do you ignore or lean in?
Ask for more clarity or accept it with joy?
The waiting?
The wondering?

Simeon, in these few verses, isn’t just teaching me how to live, but how to prepare.
He takes his longing and roots it in the echoing reminder of God’s Word, trusting in the very promise of peace.
Patience is part of the preparation.
Praying and listening is part of the preparation.
Reminders of the truth are part of the preparation.
Perseverance with faith, hope, and love is part of the preparation.

A list of things I often forget or misplace throughout my seasons of waiting and wondering.

Perhaps Simeon felt the burden of hope as he longed to see the face of God.
I’m sure doubt worked like the snake it is.
Lies being whispered as the stories of fear and insecurity tangle in his mind.
Questioning if God realllllllly told him this was going to happen.
Listening to friends and family members call you crazy or even worse, wrong.

But Simeon, like his God, is faithful.

He leans into the whisper of truth and prepares for change.
And isn’t this what Advent is about?
Leaning into the whisper of truth and preparing for our world to be flipped upside down and inside out.
For the promises and peace of God to meet us where we are today and bring a new tomorrow.

We wait.
We wonder.
He arrives.

I venture to say the arrival of the Christ came in a way Simeon never thought it would.

A needy baby, not even three months old, wrapped up in the protective arms of a teenage mother.
A baby.
Not a man.
Not a warrior.
Not a politician.
Not your typical savior.

But since when has God answered our prayers in ways we thought He would?

He gives us what we need.

Once again this Advent season, Simeon has helped me remember that the picture of the future I paint in my head will not always look like the one the Creator is creating.
And this is just another gift God gives to us.
His way is for the better, as His way is leading isn’t a holy forever.

Preparation: Continue

Again I’ll continue to pray.
I’ll continue to carry this hope.
I’ll continue to look up and say amen and I’ll even do it again.
I’ll continue to trust in what I cannot see,
but I don’t need to see to believe something is happening.
I’ll continue to wait for the day when like Simeon,
my eyes will have seen salvation.
We wait.
We wonder.
He arrives.