Day 6 – A Perpetual Advent

Waiting and healing in the time between

During and since (thus far) surviving cancer, I have learned that healing is not always about cure. It is about learning to live in the time between — between diagnosis and recovery, between fear and hope, between appointments, between resurrection and Kingdom; between what was and what might be. It is, in many ways, a perpetual Advent. 

The Christian life, after the Ascension, is marked by waiting. We live in the “already and not yet” — the promise of resurrection is real, but the fullness of that promise is still to come. In this way, all of life is a living out of Advent hope: expectation, longing and learning to live faithfully in the in-between. Waiting is not passive. It is active, watchful, and deeply formative. That Advent should inspire us to work towards a better world, but temper the modern and arrogant assumption that we can ever fully deliver it. 

My own experience, the research literature, my day job and my work have convinced me that seeing health as the absence of illness misses the point. Health is a trusting adjustment to the realities of life. That phrase, from the World Health Organization’s early definitions, took on new meaning for me. I have learned that many people with significant health challenges live with a fullness and waiting on the Lord that makes them sources of grace to others. Personally, I cannot return to the body I had before cancer. But I can learn to live well in the body I now have. And that learning — that waiting — became itself a kind of healing; enabling me to discern where God was leading me next. 

I lost many friends to HIV in the 1980s. But advances in treatment changed the nature of waiting from waiting for the next call to a friend’s bedside to waiting on their next project as they thrive. In 2017, I had the privilege of sponsoring the Positive Faith project with Catholics for AIDS Prevention and Support. I saw in the project waiting is not resignation; it is resistance. It is faith in action. I pray daily to learn from their example what God would teach me. 

The Carmelite tradition speaks of waiting in silence and stillness, of the soul’s longing for God in the dark night. This contemplative waiting is not about doing nothing. It is about being present — to God, to ourselves, to the slow work of grace. In a world obsessed with speed and solutions, this kind of waiting is countercultural. But it is also deeply healing and saves us from the toxic rages, rifts and rapidities of our culture. 

Sometimes, what we want is bodily healing. But what God may have in mind is something far greater: reconciliation, peace, a deeper wholeness. Waiting opens us to that possibility. It teaches us to let go of our timelines and trust in God’s. It invites us to see healing not as a destination, but as a journey — one that includes lament, hope, and transformation. 

In public health, we know that healing is not just personal — it is communal. It is about relationships, justice, and the flourishing of all.

Waiting, too, is communal. We wait together — in hospitals, in churches, in communities. And in that shared waiting, we find strength. In the waiting, healing flourishes. 

Share your thoughts

Pause for a moment after reading Jim’s very powerful and personal reflection. If you feel comfortable to do so, share some of your insights and reflections in the comments below.