The unsettled pregnancy sleep prepared me for waking to someone else's need. And the inability to be relaxed and comfortable in my skin for nine months made me appreciate returning to being me. Somehow, the waiting is how I gradually prepared myself to care for a tiny being. For the emotional reality of it.
Plenty of people are happy to remind me that change is hard. Sometimes marathon hard. Sometimes hit by a semi-trailer hard. And waiting is a way to build up for the struggle of change. A long slow drink before we walk out onto an unknown path.
I have been waiting.
And waiting is not a passive time. I wait with my family amidst the squabbles and raucous laughter, the scrapes and the home reader books. I stopped blogging for a few weeks and didn't miss it. Waiting was busy and absorbing. I am getting ready. Unsure for what.
Caught in that moment of knowing preparation is necessary, but bewildered about how to get ready.
I started to think about the group of faithful waiting in Jerusalem. They didn't really know what for. Just told to wait for the gift. They had no idea what would happen to them.
“Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5.
They could not have anticipated seeing the flames of God, hearing the wind of his presence and the flurry of talk amongst them. How could they have understood what Jesus meant about a counsellor coming to be with them? That God himself would come amongst them in a new way. A reinvention of the tabernacle.
The pastor reminds me that this is the one festival that the early church celebrated - Pentecost.
As I wait, I am sharing in that mysterious expectation. I am preparing myself to see God flaming in the world, to hear him blowing past my ears, to witness him bring understanding.
Waiting is the time to pray for eyes to really see and ears to truly hear.
Are you waiting for something?
Linking with Emily at Imperfect Prose
2 comments:
You've beautifully illustrated the difficulty and yet the necessity of "the waiting" we all must experience from time to time, Kath. I am waiting in a certain area of my life and I keep reminding myself that much is going on that I cannot see and much must be learned and done while I wait. So I do whatever I can to grow in this time of waiting. Thanks for the awesome way you've illustrated the need for this time. :)
kath, God has given you such a gift of words. i always feel as though the holy spirit has breathed on me, when i visit here. love you. e.
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