Good morning…today we are going to talk about waiting.  We all need to wait sometimes…and just to illustrate what it is like to wait I have an hour glass that I am going to turn over…and I want each of you to be completely silent until all of the sand is completely at the bottom…wait…wait…wait.

OK…I won’t make you do that…but it does illustrate my point…waiting can be difficult…and yet we all need to wait.  We wait for a light to turn green before crossing the street.  We wait our turn in line at the store or when playing a game.  If we want to ask a question in school, we raise our hands and wait for the teacher to call on us.  Some things can be harder to wait for than others… (can you think of something that is hard to wait for?)  It could be hard to wait for a vacation to Disney World…or to wait for your birthday…I heard that if you live to be 70, you will spend three years of your life just waiting. 

In his book “Oh the Places You Will Wait”  Dr. Seuss talks about a place called the “WAITING PLACE.” 

“Waiting for a train to go…or a bus to come…or a plane to go…or the mail to come…or the rain to go…or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow…or waiting around for a Yes or No…or waiting for your hair to grow…”

Today is the first Sunday of Advent…Advent means…”to come”…We know what is coming, don’t we?   Christmas is coming…and it’s an exciting time in some ways…especially for children.  Waiting to open gifts…waiting to decorate…waiting to see family we haven’t seen in a while…but during this time of waiting it gives us a chance to think about the true meaning of Christmas.  We can think about Jesus and his birth…we can think about giving more than receiving…we can enjoy beautiful music and holiday traditions…and when we decide to enjoy the season…IT GIVES US JOY AND HAPPINESS WHILE WE WAIT!