Take time to appreciate, reflect on present Published March 23, 2007 By Chaplain (Lt. Col.) David Fitz-Patrick 305th Air Mobility Wing MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, NJ. -- If you're anything like me you probably spend a lot of time waiting for something else to happen in your life. I often find myself in a particular situation, with certain people, doing certain things, but I'm waiting for all of that to end so that someone else will be with me, or something else can happen in my life. It's really just wishing away time. Such experiences occur in all of our lives, and under many guises -- we wait for the beginning, or the end of a deployment, for the end of a day at work, for retirement, for a friend to visit, or for a "sew on" or "pin on" date to arrive. Sometimes our impatience for a future event might run even deeper, though, as we anticipate even bigger changes in our life -- someone new to fall in love with, a new job, getting married, or maybe the birth of a child. I think it's a normal part of human nature to constantly be waiting for something in the future to reach us now. (Like waiting to turn 16 or 17 to be able to get a driver's license!) Unfortunately, though, when we do that we miss or rush past many opportunities to experience God's presence, God's grace in our lives. I daresay most of us treat holidays, or at least the symbols associated with holidays, the same way. We look forward to the celebration so much that we wish away the waiting and preparation time. That may be even more true with religious holidays like Easter or Passover. We want to put out the Easter baskets filled with eggs or the Seder plate as soon as we've passed Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day. And then by the time the actual holiday arrives we're ready to move on to the next holiday whether it be Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. In Judaism, preparing for Passover is very intentional. It involves special prayers, cleaning the house, celebrating the Shabbat before Passover, shopping, cooking, preparing the Passover plate and setting the table. In many Christian traditions, preparation for Easter is likewise very intentional. It involves a 40-day "retreat" called Lent. During this time, the disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are encouraged. Religious holidays are a wonderful time to relive past experiences in a meaningful way with family and friends. But we shouldn't let the fellowship of those holidays completely overshadow the original event being remembered. Because whether it is remembering the exodus, passing over from slavery into the promised Land, or the resurrection of Jesus, from death to life, or any other religious celebration at this time of year, those events are not simply brief miracles that happened one moment in time; rather, they are revelations about human life. Those events recall the arrival of the divine into the human. And each holiday serves to intensify the message found in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, which says we are created in the image of God. I think every religious holiday confirms our belief in the reality of God touching us individually and as a community. Those holidays also serve as reminders that God cares for us so much that we come to understand God's love as a condition of our existence, as a promise and as a destiny that never leaves us. And knowing that allows us to use those holidays to speak to us about the ultimate source and summit of our life. We welcome God's involvement in every aspect of our lives. Hopefully our religious holidays or holy days allow us an opportunity not only to celebrate with family and friends, but to reflect on the true meaning of the celebration. Because it's not right to simply wish it away, hoping the next holiday would hurry up and arrive.