Waiting - 1

Moses, waiting for God



And Moses said to the people,
"Do not be afraid.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,
which He will accomplish for you today...
The LORD will fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace."

Exodus 14:13-14

Waiting is the main theme of my life.

Learning to wait has tempered me. Made me mellow. Made me flexible.

It has taught me to be patient.

Above all, it has taught me to hope.

I can write volumes about what waiting has done for me.

At a difficult juncture in my life journey, God opened this psalm to me, and I learned to see it in a new way:

I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And He heard my cry.
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock.
And established my steps.
He put a new song in my mouth..."
Psalm 40:1-2

I read this psalm everyday during that point in my life, and each time I did, something happened inside of me.

I learned how to wait actively, that is, to wait with a sense of good things happening. To wait with hope.

Henri Nouwen will always be my favorite author. There is something about that man, such tenderness, such kindness in his spirit, such flexibility, such vulnerability.

Aside from what has been written in the "waiting" passages in my Bible, it is from reading about Henri's life, and what he has gone through, that has given me an eternal perspective about waiting.

Henri Nouwen writes from his heart.

Maybe some of you can relate to what I mean. There are some people who write from the heart, and there are some people who write to impress others. Who try to make literary pieces out of what God intended as a revelation of His heart to us.

Henri was never like that. And that is why his writings have such a deep impact on me. He is a celebrated author, yet, he never wrote to impress anyone with an insight given to Him by God.

Henri's favorite topic is waiting. Active waiting. Waiting in expectation. Waiting with patience.

Here is a sample of what Henri writes about waiting:

Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful - waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.

Taken from Windows Toward the World.

Waiting has done good things for me. I've discovered the anger, the impatience, the pride inside of me.

Waiting has cleansed me. Taught me to be more accepting of other people...of circumstances...of life, in general.

Waiting has taught me to go through life without a demanding spirit.

A new friend on blogworld shared a song about waiting. When I listened to the song, I sat still for several minutes, waiting for what I just heard to sink in.

God was speaking to me, reminding me of the beauty of a heart that waits...

The song is entitled While I'm Waiting. Dear friends, how I want to share the song with you!

Go to Always Waiting, a very beautiful post written about it.



Other blog posts on Waiting:

A Spirituality of Waiting - Part 1
A Spirituality of Waiting - Part 2