Advent begins on November 30, The Feast of Saint Andrew. Temperatures bounce from summer to fall and back again. We know winter is coming we just don’t know when, suddenly or seamlessly. Our lives have metaphorical seasons as well. Birth comes in spring, summer is bright with life & heat, fall is fruitful leaning toward winter and a live well lived or not.
We are a year older than last Advent. None are ignorant of this fact but may well be un-conscious of the meaning. A couple of years ago as I turned 60 I came to myself to realize that I had passed middle-age (which ends at 55, they tell me) without realizing it. 60, they tell me is the new 50! That is all well and good; however, my body still has not gotten the news. I don’t feel like I’m 50 again, mind you.
The Gospel John 9.4, records our Lord say, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” [KJV]. Summer days have full and long sunlight. Fall days have the smell of fallen leaves with a wisp of dry mushrooms, a ripe 
fullness, but also with a certain wistful urgency for day is passing and twilight falls.
Advent is a time for waiting, not asleep slothful but with intention, one ear tuned to hear the word, “He is coming.” He who came among us as a child will return and receive us to himself that where he is we may be also, this is the good news of God in Christ. Whatever season of our life, each has pleasure and sacrifice. Grant that we may enjoy the first and embrace the latter, for in the economy of heaven they are cut from the same cloth of glory.
Beyond Contradiction 