The Art of Waiting unfolds before us. Waiting holds beauty and excitement in the unknown, but also abstract forms of struggle and lack of clarity in the intermission. Most find it challenging to wait. Waiting can be an art, developed through experience and finesse over time, but the more we rile against it, the harder it is to learn the skills needed to gracefully walk through it.
Our nature is unsettled, restless when we are not moving. We find it hard to sit still. Being still is not a bad thing, but we fight against it. I remember my eldest child as a baby and toddler didn’t believe she needed a nap. Her “go” button was always on. Then, out of nowhere, she would be out like a light—sitting up in shopping carts, mid-crawl with toy in hand, or even mid-sentence at the dinner table. She had nothing in her to wait a moment and see if sleep would come. We are like this with our waiting. We don’t want to pause or be still for fear of missing out on something. We want to keep moving, figuring things out. Waiting, however, requires us to pause, take a moment and see what unfolds before us. This stillness is a skill we must develop.
In the stillness of waiting, we can struggle with our thoughts and all the rabbit trails we can wander down. Some thoughts are of the happy ending we desire, everything falling into place just as we hope. Other times, we battle the thoughts of a potential train wreck destroying all our dreams. This tension, while we wait, can be torturous at times. We need to capture each thought, define it for what it is, an unknown. Remembering, the majority of the time, we cannot see the timing or the details of how it will truly unfold. We could dream up a dozen ways and it will unfold in another. The skill of capturing our thoughts is a necessity to peace in the waiting.
Perspective is an additional skill needing to be grasped in the art of waiting. Many times, we focus on ourselves. Speculating how we will be suffer if this fails to come through or how our life will be forever changed for the better if we are blessed with our desired outcome. During the speculating, we can forget all those behind the scenes, those that are involved or affected by this purposed change. Job openings only exist when, A) another person is fired or promoted, or B) a manager sees the need for creating an additional position. Both of these require movement by others. Keeping perspective, about all the people and decisions necessary to move any plan forward, helps breed success in waiting.
Waiting develops many positive attributes in our character. As we embrace stillness, we pause, opening up space to watch things move on our behalf without us forcing them, seeing them unfold. When we capture our thoughts, we better control our emotional highs and lows, allowing peace to rule in our lives while we wait. Finally, taking a step back to gain perspective in all that precipitates change, we better grasp the time needed to see things open up. Waiting is hard. Through waiting, patience, trust and understanding are cultivated. We are changed by the waiting. As with any art, we become better and better with practice.
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