Advent 1: Stay Awake!

Every year at the beginning of Advent, we are reminded to stay awake. In this year’s version, we hear it’s like a man going on a journey and giving assignments to all his servants, including the guy who watches the gate. And, we are told, we don’t know when the master is returning. So stay awake. Be ready.

I’m inclined to say that we moms have this covered. A good night’s sleep has been a rare treat since my son was born.  At first, the baby is up at all hours, but even after you get them on a schedule, you never know when a toddler is going to vomit in the night or a kindergartener is going to wet the bed.  Or your teenager will come to bed at 2 in the morning, stomping up the stairs and latching all the doors.  Later in life, I’m told, they do things like spew all their problems in a text to you at 10 pm and then go silent.  Sleep?  Not today, my friends.

But not sleeping is different from staying awake. And staying awake is not about coffee or energy drinks, and it’s definitely not about incessant worry that keeps you from sleeping. Staying awake is being aware of your surroundings and helping out when we see it’s needed; it’s living now and anticipating the good that is to come.  We stay awake to experience this life.  And we stay awake to be ready: ready to help make the bad things better when we can, ready to hold in our arms those who cannot be consoled, and ready to see the good when it appears.

This season, let's be a little more awake and alert, and ready to be the workers that are needed.