waiting

The two Christian seasons of Advent and Lent are marked by a sense of waiting. And today as we look out upon a grey, rainy day, in which the water is running and pooling and maybe washing away the last of this long winter's snow we are waiting for summer! We are longing for warmth. And in Lent we are waiting for Easter. We are longing for life. But waiting is good for us. "We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield." (Psalm 33.20) In 2014 we don't wait well. We are going too fast, we feel that it's urgent, we can't put it off (whatever it is.) But when we simply can't move our circumstances any faster, when we are stuck, when we are helpless and finally succumb to the waiting, there can come a strange and holy quiet. This is a better thing than reluctant resignation, although that may have to be the starting point. It is an opportunity to reflect, to be grateful, to describe the hope of our waiting to our soul. And to rest there.