waiting

Opening Prayer: O Lord, keep us from doing, just for the sake of doing.  Keep us from springing into action, simply because we have no better alternative.  Keep us from manufacturing and creating, when should be sitting still and depending on you to move and to act.  Keep us from spinning our wheels, just for the sake of spinning them.  We can do nothing apart from you, O Lord, so help us to be still and wait for you.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 130:5-6

Journal: What do you think about waiting?  How does it make you feel?  Why are you resistant to it?  How are you embracing it?  What do you think God is up to?

Reflection: I noticed a monk, ski cap pulled over his ears, sitting perfectly still beneath a tree.  There was such reverence in his silhouette, such tranquil sturdiness, that I paused to watch.  He was the picture of waiting.

     Later I sought him out.  “I saw you today sitting beneath the tree---just sitting there so still.  How is it that you can wait so patiently in the moment?  I can’t seem to get used to the idea of doing nothing.”

     He broke into a wonderful grin.  “Well, there’s the problem right there, young lady.  You’ve bought into the cultural myth that when you’re waiting you’re doing nothing.”

     Then he took his hands and placed them on my shoulders, peered straight into my eyes and said, “I hope you’ll hear what I’m about to tell you.  I hope you’ll hear it all the way down to your toes.  When you’re waiting, you’re not doing nothing.  You’re doing the most important something there is.  You’re allowing your soul to grow up.  If you can’t be still and wait, you can’t become what God created you to be.”  (When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd)

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord, help us to know that waiting is not merely doing nothing, but it is doing a very important something.  Therefore, help us to wait on you, O Lord, more than a watchman waits for the morning.  Amen.