“What are disciples to do in the meantime—in the waiting?”

This is the question that Rachel Gilson asks in “Watch and Pray,” today’s advent reading based on Luke 21:25–26. The second coming of Jesus will be loudness and light, an event that cannot be missed, Gilson explains. But what about now? What about all this time between the New Testament we’ve read and the new life to come?

That’s the very question at the heart of the Advent season itself. While we may feel culturally mandated to observe hustle and bustle in the weeks to come, the way of advent offers us a gentler yet richer season. We are called to do exactly what Jesus called his disciples to do in Luke 21—be careful. Watch.

Your calendar may already be bursting with Christmas festivities and, perhaps, a touch of the frantic, too. It’s okay. Stillness can be found even in the frenzy—through a deep breath and a reminder that this waiting will not last forever. Jesus is coming back.