Waiting for Christmas Day

For this week's Christmas song, I've decided to go out on a limb a little bit. The song for this week is "Christmas Day," sung by Dido for one of the "Very Special Christmas" compilations. This is going a bit out on a limb b/c it is not a Christmas song in the strictest sense of the word. The Song is about a guy who meets a girl and promises he'll come back to take her away on Christmas day. The rest of the song is her talking about how she's waiting for him to return. Therefore, Christmas day is more a point of time than it is a holiday. However, the song got me thinking since it talks about waiting, something the Holiday seasons seem about.
For those of you who have offspring of a young age, I can imagine they look forward to Christmas for several weeks leading up to the date (Or at least I did, maybe I'm more maladjusted than I've given myself credit for). My Mom has talked about how I was a kid and just couldn't wait for Christmas to come (now there are years where I can't wait for it to be over, go figure). I do remember us getting up very early to open gifts and my parents would tell me I had to wait until it was a reasonable hour (i.e. the sun was at least starting to rise).
Incidents that probably screamed "Emancipated Minor" to my parents aside, the concept of waiting remains a integral part of the Holiday season. In the Christian tradition, the time leading up to Christmas is known as Advent, a time that is characterized by "expectant waiting and participation" for the coming of the Christ. Although Hanukkah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, it is a celebration of a wait being over. The holiday marks the re-dedication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt was able to retake it and rededicated it after it was desecrated by the Syrians.
I find this holiday season's focus on waiting to be extremely interesting since waiting is something very few people want to do in this day and age. We want what we want and we want it NOW. Currently the political landscape comprises people who are promising to enact changes to help Americans sooner than their opponents. This is, of course, understandable since many Americans are in dire straits and anyone who could get them out of it faster should be in charge. Likewise, I can imagine Israel was getting a little tired of waiting around for God to send the messiah. They had to wander in the desert for 40 years, had been conquered many times, and the Romans had been added to the list of invading armies during the time of Jesus. Therefore, I can see how they appreciated God's love but still wanted to get the show on the road.
So if everyone hates waiting, why do we have to do it? I know it's a cliche, but perhaps we wait so we can "build character." A while back a preached a sermon at Spirit of Peace (and strangely enough it didn't start raining frogs) about how experiences both bad and good can shape us ways that make us a better person. The experience of waiting gives us a time to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. If I had opted for instant gratification when I was a kid, would I have finally gotten it that the Holidays are not just about decorations and gifts but also about being together with those you love, about peace, and about hope? If we view God as a parental figure, the understanding that you can't have whatever you want whenever you want it is valuable life lesson. Furthermore, having to wait for something can make you value it even more. The current dedication to what is now the country if Israel I think, in part at least, comes from the memory that many times it had been taken away from the Jewish people or they had been without a nation of their own.
Getting back to the song by Dido, you will notice that she eagerly anticipates the arrival of her lover, but she doesn't chomp at the bit waiting for him to show up. Anticipation is a feeling we get around this time of year, but instead of holding out for what we're waiting for, enjoy the wait as well as the waiting to be over. So during this holiday season, enjoy the parties, the food, and all the other stuff that goes along with this time of year. However, realize that part of this season is about waiting so embrace the wait and look to see what you find along the way.