Monday, June 06, 2011

THE ACTIVITY OF WAITING

I have learned a unique lesson the hard way.  Waiting is for God's servants.  To the ambitious and the go-getters such a term seems wimpy; even faithless.  It takes active faith to wait.

God's promise to Adam and Eve took centuries to fulfill.  Upon his resurrection the church was begun on the command to go to Jerusalem and wait.  Wait is a God-word for forward movement.  If not understood one will likely conclude waiting rather means no action.

There is spiritual activity in waiting.  Henri Nouwen advises with these comments; Waiting is never a movement from nothing to something.  It is always a movement from something to something more.....Those who are waiting are waiting very actively.  They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing.  Right here is a secret for us about waiting.  If we wait in the conviction that a seed has been planted and that something has already begun, it changes the way we wait.

Such stillness is an activity which allows one to be present in the moment.  Waiting does not find us on hold.  It does let the circumstances and elements God is arranging to come into maturity for the Ah-ha! and the Wow! of the moment. 

To wait does not mean to withdraw.  Rather it means to engage in the directives of God.  And just as the disciples obeyed the Wait command of Jesus only to see the church explode upon the scene, we can be assured God knows how to put the pop into our labors of love.

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