Purposely Waiting: Singlehood

I was at WalMart today buying a last Chirstmas wish add on of my mother's and the store was a bustling.  As we all decorate the last cookies, wear the ugly Christmas sweater again, and attend another holiday related event I want us not to forget that it is still Advent and we still wait in stillness for the baby Jesus.  Advent related to the single season of our lives is actually one of the things I originally planned on touching on with this Purposely Waiting series so I cannot let Advent come to a close without writing about it.

Last Advent this post on Captive the Heart blog really impacted me.  In particular this line,

"Know this: that every desire you feel for your husband-to-be, emotional, rational, and yes, sexual, is so good and so holy...All through your Advent, embrace the groaning.  Give yourself permission to feel, to hope, and to be purified."

I have literally come back to that line over and over again this whole past year.  Allow yourself to want that vocation, that marriage, that husband, that family. Advent is all about waiting for, anticipating, and preparing for the Christ child.  What better period of time to be purified in what the single years and waiting for marriage mean.  As Advent comes to an end, if you are single, hope for the Christmas with your own little family and pray that your heart is made ready for the Sacrament of Marriage.  Happy last few days of Advent.