All my life I feel as if I’ve been waiting. Whether if it was waiting for my turn or for my chance to shine, waiting for the love of my life to come sweep me off my feet, or waiting for something big to happen in my life–I know the feeling well.

I identify very profoundly with this notion of Advent as a part of a larger cycle or season in one’s life. As a Christian (albeit a thinking one, if there were such a thing these days), I am drawn more toward the first coming of Christ than the second. Maybe it is because I am in my own personal advent right now. I think a lot of us are.

There are so many terrible things happening in the world today–sometimes hope is the only thing that keeps us going. I think advent is as much about hope as it is about waiting, because we are waiting for things to get better. We are waiting for that person or moment to change everything; and we are ready for that change.

I also believe that there is a secret significance specifically in waiting for a child to be born. If you have ever interacted with an infant then I’m sure you know what I mean: that specific feeling of wonder you have when you hold it in your arms, the feeling of amazement at the miracle of creation, and the feeling of pure hope for a better tomorrow.

All religions and ideologies carry with them a certain amount of burden when a “savior” is personified, except when that savior is a child. After all, a child may be the only thing that can unite and save this troubled world.

So maybe it happens tonight. Maybe it was a few days ago at the solstice, that darkest of day–sometimes it is hard to imagine darker days, but I know they exist. Perhaps we will forever be waiting, or perhaps the task this time is to find the child, the light in the east, the savior of our world. Limited theologies would have us believe that he was found long ago, but I believe that if you look hard enough, you can find evidence that such a child existed in each of us at one time.

Therefore, whatever our creed, we should each find hope in the fact that we were all once a part of the secret mystery of creation, that we were once someone’s hope for a better tomorrow, and that we have an obligation to the next generation of children.

O come, o come, Emmanuel.