It is so hard to accept patience as a gift. I believe it depends on what it is that we are waiting for to determine how high our level of patience will be. I used to be the type of person that it didn’t matter what I was waiting for, I was impatient. So much so it would be like a fire burning inside and I’d want to crawl out of my skin. I could be waiting in line at the post office (undoubtedly the longest line to wait in year round) and I could hear the ‘tick tick tick’ of my impatience ready to explode. Traffic was the worst and probably one of the hardest for me to battle to this day, especially when I am driving and have a premonition that maybe I should go a new route just in case there is bad traffic on the normal route and I don’t listen to that ‘voice’…and end up in stop and go traffic. I always wish I could do a rewind and listen to my ‘intuition’. 😉
Thankfully, one of the gifts I’ve asked for in prayer is patience and I’m sure you have all heard the adage, “Never ask for patience because God will put you in a position to wait.” That He has and I’ve learned (for the most part) to accept the waiting for what it is – a time to slow down, be at rest, maybe even a bit of quiet time. Especially when there is nothing I can do about it.
Today I was reminded of one of the hardest aspects of waiting. Waiting to be with those we love who have gone to heaven before us. I was with a friend who lost a child and regardless of how much time has passed…it is hard. It is hard to wait to see them again. It is hard to be patient when the world is both moving so fast you can’t seem to get a handle on where your place is without this child in your life and yet it is also hard to have the days tick by slowly allowing the realization of the loss to reignite. This kind of waiting is the hardest. And still the lessen is the same. God is asking my friend to be patient and continue on her journey for one day she will be reunited with her child.
The gift that comes in this waiting is the full acceptance of God’s will. I think as each year ticks by my friend accepts this gift with new eyes, a wiser heart, and more courageous spirit. In sitting with her today I learned a great lessen in the art of waiting. I am grateful.
December 10, 2010
Friday of the Second Week of Advent
Readings: Is 48:17-19; Mt 11:16-19
I, the LORD, your God,
teach you what is for your good,
and lead you on the way you should go.
Is 48:17
Advent becomes an opportunity to reawaken within
ourselves the true meaning of waiting, returning to the
heart of our faith which is the mystery of Christ, the Messiah
who was expected for long centuries and was born in poverty,
in Bethlehem.
Homily in Celebration of First Vespers of Advent
November 28, 2009
Blessings
Shannon