"There then occurs a new development in the story.
"The many young princes had tried to get in but they had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had remained sticking fast in it, and had died a pitiful death. Then the youth said: 'I am not afraid, and I will go and see the beautiful Briar Rose.' The good old man might dissuade him as he would, but the prince did not listen to his words.
[From the Briar Rose narrative]:
"But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar Rose was to awake again. When the king's son came near to the thorn-hedge, it was nothing but large and beautiful flowers, which parted from each other of their own accord, and let him pass unhurt.
"This is a beautiful denouement: the thorns become roses and the hedge becomes flowers by virtue of 'creative waiting.' The fairy tale would have it that this occurs simply by waiting. I believe differently: it is inner growth, the external manifestation of kairos."
"This mythic approach to time is opposite to the routine and often boring--concept of time as automatic passage of 'tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow 'creeping on in petty pace from day to day.' This demonstrates that this great change did not occur because of the special qualities of this prince (others were as courageous and died in the thorns). This prince, we assume, sensed the kairos, the moment when 'all creation trembled and groaned.' (Rollo May, The Cry for Myth, p. 205)
Advent is a period of waiting for the Moment to arrive. I have found that much of my life is a period of Advent...waiting for the Moment to declare itself ready for expression.