“O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah’s words in our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures remind me of the following hymn:

“Have thine own way, Lord; have thine own way.

Thou art the potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after thy will

While I am waiting yielded and still.”

That seems to be the perfect stance for the season of Advent when we focus on waiting with anticipation for the annual celebration of Christ Jesus’ Incarnation in our world and waiting in expectation for Christ’s coming again.

Our culture tends to prefer instant gratification to waiting for anything. But when we wander off down that path, we may find ourselves at a dead end before very long, desperate for God’s help. That’s when we can discover the peace that comes from “waiting yielded and still,” trusting in the Beloved’s transforming touch to fashion us into the imago dei we were created to be.

Take a few minutes to read the epistle lesson, slowly, aloud if possible. Hear it directed to you personally. Know that God is faithful. We are “the work of his hand,” and as we open ourselves to the presence of the Holy One here and now, we come to realize that God’s grace is sufficient for us in all our waiting times. The Beloved uses the present moment, whatever it might hold, to open our eyes to recognize how, day by day, the potter is molding and making the clay of our being into compassionate, self-giving love.

Let us make our Advent cry, “Come, Lord Jesus!”