So Many Kinds of Waiting
Waiting for the washing on the line to dry
Or waiting for the results of the MRI
Waiting in an automated queue on the phone
Or waiting to find out if you’re allowed to go home
Waiting for someone else to make a move
Or whether a loved one has made a breakthrough
Waiting for research to tell us what we don’t know
Waiting which teaches us this body’s on a go slow
In all of these days that we call our life
Waiting in case we might be surprised
All of us waiting to be looked in the eye
Waiting to be seen, to be recognized
The wait can frustrate us, can hold us up,
But now and again it might be speaking to us
An invitation to set new intentions
So that a journey turns into its own destination
John finds he’s waiting to prepare a way
Mary’s wait leaves her a little dazed
Awake on dark hillsides looking for a sign
A satellite of love moves high in the sky
Watching and waiting, wondering what’s next
As strangers bring us gifts we didn’t expect
A child in a stable does not share our point of view
The weak may be strong in ways none of us knew
The wait may not bring some grand resolution
Although somewhere inside it may start a revolution
Some of us are waiting to make a new beginning
All of us, in time, for some good ending
Watching and waiting for love to come down
Surprised when we notice it’s already all around
We look for the word for our many kinds of waiting
While the silent tree in winter waits silently for spring.Â
Share your thoughts
Was there a kind of waiting that resonated most with you? Ponder this question, and if you feel comfortable to do so, share your response in the comments below.
Waiting as frustration, which goes on to teach me the lesson of patience, a lesson I need to learn over and over again.
Thank you for your honest reflection, David – ain’t that the truth…
Waiting has always been as as far as I remember remember given a sense of joyful intrepidation balanced along side what will be will be.I’m trying to cultivate patience within I’m often quick to respond, working on the hoof.The advent calendar is a great idea already im taking in thereby slowing down.
Thank you.
Sandie Foster
Thank you for sharing your reflections, Sandie – we hope the Advent Calendar continues to help us all to slow down and cultivate patience!
I picture ‘waiting’ as my eldest waiting tables in Brooksby Hall, or my middlest waiting tables in The Bell Inn. Such day to day images help me hold in tension ‘waiting’ as an act of SURRENDER (as others around you, literally, Order) and ‘waiting’ as an act of SERVICE (meeting others’ needs, ultimately for simple sustenance). Standing still AND acting wisely.