Advent: The Art of Waiting

"A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and branch shall grow out of his roots."  Isaiah 11:1

"Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting -- that is, of hopefully doing without -- will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment.  Those who do know how it feels to struggle anxiously with the deepest questions of life, of their life, and to patiently look forward with anticipation until the truth is revealed, cannot even dream of the splendor of the moment in which clarity is illuminated for them.   And for those who do not want to win the friendship and love of another person -- who do not expectantly open up their soul to the soul of the other person, until friendship and love come, until they make the entrance -- for such people the deepest blessing of the one life of two intertwined souls will remain forever hidden.  For the greatest most profound, tenderest things in the world, we must wait."   Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from God is in the Manger (4)

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