Advent: Expectant Waiting

 

                                                                                                  

Wait for the Lord; take courage, and He will give strength to your heart;                                                 yes, wait for the Lord. Ps. 27:14

 

Here is a reflection on waiting for the will of God from many years ago.

Huehuetenango, Guatemala:  High on the Cuchumatane plateau I was trekking on a trail up the steep mountainside and through pastures and fields to visit farms and homes of the Indian families who participate in a sheep project that has been of much benefit in this area.  Walking along a path through a small meadow I came upon an old woman sitting on a stone wall.  Her deeply wrinkled and leathery brown face displayed the effects of many years' exposure to the direct sun of this high altitude.

Buenas días, Señora, Como está usted?  Good morning, madam, how are you? I asked.

She smiled, showing her few remaining teeth.  Buenas días, señor!  Estoy esperando la voluntad de Dios!  Good morning, sir - I am waiting for the will of God, she replied.

I was curious about that greeting and stopped to chat.  She told me that she lives alone. “My husband died three years ago and I have no one to take care of me now”. 

“What about your children?”  -

“I have none” she said.  “I live up there” as she pointed up the steep slope behind me, “on the other side of that crest”.

She carried a piece of kindling wood and a small bag of food.  She told me that she was out looking for food, and I supposed that this old widow went around to her neighbors each day asking for help in her old age.

As she spoke about herself and her life, tears welled up in her eyes.  “I am 83 years old and I’m waiting for the will of God”, she repeated.  In Spanish the word, esperar, means both to wait and to expect.  I wondered for a moment if she was actually expecting to be called by God that very day – or maybe even sitting there in the sunshine wanting to go to heaven soon.

Then she looked right at me and said, “Dios es Grande!

I agreed – “Yes, God is Great”.  I felt comforted and assured that the Spirit was right there hearing her real and sincere supplication to God – to take her to be at God’s side or just waiting to see - what was God’s will for her that day.   

I was warmed and touched by this brief and poignant encounter on the path that day.  Was it because her tears were so authentic and not intended to solicit my pity?   She was not asking anything of me – not begging or preying on my guilt and asking for sympathy.   No, instead she was giving something to me – something deep within her – a simple and primitive campesina faith in the goodness of God.  And I even took more than that gift away with me – I took an image.  I asked her if I could take her picture, expecting the usual shy and embarrassed response of an indigenous woman.  But no – she looked straight at me, though I was not sure her eyes could perceiver my image clearly.  “Bueno - Tal vez!” she said, as if to say, “Maybe that’s a good idea!”  It was a strong positive response, so we connected through the lens of the camera for a few brief seconds, and after some minutes I bid farewell. 

“May God bless you”, was the only thing I could say, to which she responded – “Gracias”, as I walked on up the path, thinking about waiting for the will of God in my own life, thankful for her testimony and reminder to me. 

The old Mayan woman had witnessed to me that morning of her faith, and I am sure I was more enriched by her than she was by me in that chance encounter on a cool December morning.  After all, it is Advent – and we are, indeed, waiting for the will of God!