��ѿ��ý

Available for over a year

Good Morning Advent, which begins tomorrow is, without doubt, my favourite season of the Christian year. Described by the Catholic Nun Maria Boulding as a “sacrament of everyone’s longing” Advent brings into sharp focus the advantages of learning to wait well and to exhibit patience whenever we can. We open the doors of our Advent calendars or light the candles of our Advent wreaths and each one is another step on a challenging journey of waiting. The whole idea is, according to the Prophet Isaiah, that our inner strength is renewed by the time the Christmas festivities begin. A journey of learning to wait effectively is never easy no matter where we are on life’s journey. I didn’t even want to mention Brexit – but every one of us, it would seem, regardless of our political views, is just having to wait. And it’s not easy for anyone. But at a personal level, in an increasingly high tech, digital age, being patient and learning to wait is tougher every day. In her book Fully Connected, Julia Hobsbawm observes that humanity is beginning to choke on the fumes of excess as information spreads and the constant need to respond immediately affects many people’s lives. We don’t have time anymore to wait. It was interesting to hear on this programme yesterday of research from the London School of Economics which showed how dozens of schools are now focussing on teaching children subjects such as self-awareness and mindfulness and how encouraging the results are. Also this week, a high street restaurant chain is trailing an initiative encouraging families to hand in their mobile phones before being shown to their seats to eat in order to make sure that they actually talk to one another. Have we really stopped communicating with each other? When I asked a group of primary school children this week if they found it easy to be patient and to wait – they all said no. Waiting for a present, to go on holiday, for a food delivery were all cited as examples of their impatience until one 6 year old put his hand up and said: “I find it hard to pause, to be still, but I am working on it.” I couldn’t believe my ears. Out of the mouth of babes! The theologian Paula Gooder suggests antipathy to waiting [for anything] is exacerbated, if not encouraged, by the kind of complexities I’ve just described. The season to challenge that antipathy begins tomorrow when the first Advent candle is lit and I, for one, am already waiting.