Why was I in such a hurry to grow up?

I am sitting here at my computer, on my day off, trying to get about a thousand things done for work, life, finances, etc. and I am remembering how excellent I had it when I was still living at home at the ripe age of 17. I had a car that I could use anytime, money from a job I didn't need and only had because I wanted to work. There were no bills (at least not for me), the car would mysteriously become filled with gas, dinner would be there every night if I wanted it, I saw my friends everyday, and never had more than a few pages to read or write for homework. All this for the low, low price of getting up at 6:30 every morning (something I am glad to say I only have to do on Sundays now) and occasionally being told I couldn't do something (and as I look back, it was rare that those occasions were unreasonable restrictions)...and I hated it.

I couldn't wait to get out of there, to be out on my own and living life by my own terms and here I am. I have a job that pays the bills and then some, a place of my own, a car (that I now fill with gas), and I am thinking that life wasn't so bad. It is not that life isn't better in its own way now than it was then. I can actually say I love my parents and my sister and want to see them all the time now that I have had some distance. I am able to live independently and I am able to make my own decisions. It is wonderful, the only shame is that it took until now to start realizing how good I had it growing up.

I am sure you are not like me, but I take so much for granted in my life. It is a shame it takes so much distance to appreciate what I have and what I had.

Advent: The Coming of the Lord

People in the early church expected Jesus to come back during their lifetime. They believed that the pain of this world was coming to an end at any minute. Day after day they waited, they worshipped together and went to bed every night expecting it to be the last time. A couple decades passed and Jesus had not returned, so they started writing down the teachings and stories about him that other generations could carry on the truth of the gospel. Those decades turned into centuries and the church started creating liturgies, prayers, and seasons to help teach the masses of people who were becoming Christians. Those centuries turned into two millennia and now we have an Advent season that reminds us that the Christ child came to us in a manger in Bethlehem, but that is not the primary story Advent is meant to recall.

Advent is a season for us to remember that Jesus is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. That the suffering and tragedy of this life will end in peace and joy and fulfillment. It is to remind us of the expectation of the early church, the kind of expectation that causes the whole of Creation to groan and yearn for the Son of God to be revealed (Rom 8:19), the kind of expectation that is not dulled by 2000 years of waiting because we hold onto it as our greatest and last hope for salvation.