It requires patience to wait for something to happen or for something to arrive.
So if we had ordered a meal at a restaurant or ordered something online, we just have to wait for it arrive.
But we have some certainty that it will arrive, unless there were unforeseen circumstances.
For Manoah and his wife in the 1st reading, and for Zechariah and Elizabeth in the gospel, they had waited for children to come about in their marriage.
At first, they had waited in expectation. But as time went on, their patience was put to the test, and their hope was slowly fading away.
There was no assurance that they will have children, but they still kept faith with each other, and together they kept their faith in God.
In the end they were rewarded with sons who would have a mission in a saving plan of God.
As we enter into the last week of Advent, let us also remember that things happen in God’s time.
As much as we need to have patience, we also need to have faith to believe that as we wait, God is preparing something beautiful and wonderful for us.
So let us pray as we wait patiently for God to reveal His beautiful and wonderful plan for us.