As we enter the season of Advent and wait for Christmas, our students are already eagerly anticipating the tree and presents and vacation. It can be a hectic time at school. In the midst of all the excitement, I invite you to spend a while thinking about what Advent can teach you, the teacher, about patiently waiting. It can be hard to have patience, yet teaching demands so much of it! Use this time to learn how to slow down and trust God’s care for you.

It is easy to miss the blessings Advent has in store for us. In the days leading up to Christmas, we are tempted to immerse ourselves in shopping and cooking—and that after a full day in the classroom! The Scriptures hold lessons about developing patience by practicing fruitful waiting. In Ecclesiastes 3:1, we learn there is a time for everything. During Advent, there is a time for parties and decorating; let us also make a time for relaxing and spending time enjoying quiet visits with a friend we have missed lately. These words from Psalm 37 remind us to place our trust in God to fulfill our heart’s desires: “Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will act. And make your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like noonday. Be still before the Lord; wait for him. Do not be provoked by the prosperous, nor by malicious schemers.” Instead of exhausting ourselves, let us try to savor the blessings of waiting for God to appear.

• For Your Reflection: Consider this wisdom about patient trust from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher (d. 1955): “Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. …Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of your believing that his hand is leading you, and of your accepting the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” (Excerpted from Michael Harter, SJ, Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press, 2004, 102-103)
   
• Faith Sharing with Your Students: How have you seen God at work recently? What person do you hope to see at Christmas that you have been missing? What makes you feel joyful?
   
• Advent Resources for Classroom and Home: Download instructions here for making a Jesse Tree or an Advent Wreath with your students, pray the O Antiphons, or honor our Lady of Guadalupe. You will also find ideas to send home for families to celebrate a more fruitful waiting time.
   
• More Advent Projects: Log on to your Flourish account to download Advent activities in the Feasts and Seasons section of the Blest Are We Faith in Action Activities and Projects for your grade level.