A kind of waiting

By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Kids are used to waiting. You have to wait in line for practically everything, AND wait to get old enough and tall enough to do all the really fun things in life.

Advent, the time we're in right now, is a time of waiting. We're waiting for Christmas, when Jesus is born. Most kids are waiting for Santa to come, too!

In this week's Gospel (Luke 21:25-28,34-36), Jesus talks about another kind of waiting: waiting for the end of the world, when He'll come back.

"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars when the world is going to end," Jesus said. "When you see those signs, know that I am coming back. And remember me all the time, because if you forget, I might come back when you don't expect me."

When you're waiting for something to happen, you look for signs that it's coming soon. If you're waiting in line, you feel happy when the line moves forward; if you're waiting for Christmas, you cheer up when you put up the Christmas tree and decorate it.

When Jesus was going back to heaven, He knew it would be a long time before He came back as a person. He also knew people would get impatient! So He told us to look for signs that would make the wait a little easier: big changes in the sun, moon and stars. When we see that, we'll know Jesus is coming!

With all the holiday signs around us, it would be hard to forget Santa is coming. Little things are easier to forget: If you're waiting to get taller, you won't know you're growing every day. It's only when you measure yourself that you can tell.

Jesus warned us not to be like that about Him. We can't forget He's coming just because there aren't signs everywhere, all the time. Jesus might be quieter than Santa, but He's a lot more important!