There is a sense of urgency in Luke 21: 29-36. Do it now is the command, lest that day catch you suddenly like a trap.
Christian spirituality has misleadingly put too much importance to passive waiting. Perhaps it is the byproduct of Israel having to wait for centuries for the Messiah to come; or having an overdose of parables on waiting in the gospels, or it could also be that we have taken the second coming of the Lord too very seriously; not giving attention to the Lord who has already come, and is with us. This sense of passive waiting limits a lot of good that could be done. ‘That day’ is a misleading reference to an ambiguous distant auspicious time. The gospel tries to tell us that there is no ‘that day’, there is only ‘this day’. If you want to do something do it today.
I came across a social media post recently that goes in these or similar words. People come to office/school/college and wait all day for 5 pm to come. People wait all week for the weekend—Saturday and Sunday to come. People wait all winter for the summer to come, all summer for the monsoon to come, and all monsoons for the winter to come. Don't let the pursuit of tomorrow kill the joy of today. What you have today, what you do today, what you give today, and how much you have grown today is the essential thing that matters. The rest is the consequence of it. If nothing has happened today, do not expect anything to happen tomorrow.
Waiting is patience in allowing things to evolve and become. It is like planting a seed, and allowing it to sprout, grow, blossom, and bear fruit. You cannot force a seed to bear fruit. Nor can we expect a seed to bear fruit without planting, watering, and giving it time. This is waiting; and waiting is an active and conscious process.
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