Waiting and Mom

When I think of Advent, I think of waiting. Seeing as I’ve been singing and hearing a lot of Christmas songs this year, it feels at the moment like I ought to be enthusiastically celebrating Christmas more than I should still be waiting in anticipation of Christ’s coming. And yet, my visit here to my family in Canada has reminded me of how much I long for Christ’s coming: not the sentimental, cute baby in the manger Jesus, but the returning King who will conquer sin and suffering. It is this Jesus who I long for to come and dwell (tabernacle) amongst my family – especially with my Mom.

Before I came to visit, my Mom had been having some difficulties with keeping her food long enough in her body for her to be able to get enough nutrition out of it. She was sometimes a bit weak and had lost some weight. She’d seen a doctor several times, and what had begun as a nuisance was gradually making normal life more and more complicated. Last week, things escalated: she was so weak on Tuesday, we went with her to the emergency room. No answers, but she was given an intravenous and was a lot less weak. Thursday there was an ultrasound, and the likely problem was found: a mass on an ovary, which was pushing against the bowels. That meant having a name and cause for the problems, but not an end to my Mom’s pain and suffering – food and even drink still weren’t staying in. Now she’s in the hospital, thankfully getting nutrition through an intravenous, but still waiting to know exactly what is wrong and what can be done. There have been tests and checks and there’ll hopefully be surgery but there are still many questions and much uncertainty. And amidst my Mom’s suffering, my family is waiting and hoping, longing for the healing that Christ the King can bring.