Do You Ever Get Tired of Waiting?

 

I feel like lately my life has been about waiting.  Waiting for return phone calls, waiting for replies to paperwork filed, waiting, waiting, waiting. Do you ever get tired of waiting?

For people who are action-oriented, the get-it-done-now type, waiting is hard.  I must say, the fast pace of technology has not helped.  Aren’t people supposed to respond within minutes when you email or text them?

I have actually—and I am not making this up—run into people who take hours to respond because they don’t “check their phone” only a few times a day. Who are these people and how do they function in the world?

Okay, I may be kidding—maybe—but it is true that the virtue of patience and the art of waiting are much needed today.  I think if they were practiced more often, we might be a kinder, gentler nation.  How many times are violent acts initiated because of anger boiling up under an uncontrolled temper? 

Self-discipline today—whether applied to restraining ourselves with technology or whatever—is sorely needed.

We all have moments of being out of control.  Maybe yours is related to food, where you have a tendency to “feed your feelings” or maybe you explode with expletives or harsh words when frustrated, or maybe, when you don’t get your way, you become intensely self-centered and lash out at others. Maybe you need self-discipline in other, seemingly little areas.

I have had to develop some self-discipline over the years (okay, I’m still working on it) to calm my busy brain.  Because I am an early riser, by the time most people get up in the morning, I have already formed an opinion on the politics of the morning, pondered a religious topic, or worked to resolve life’s problems.  The problem arises when I feel the need to excitedly pontificate at 6:00 a.m. 

(And in case you are wondering, yes, I do have a saintly husband.)

As a kid, I remember being absolutely shocked on vacation one year when my cousin, who went with us, sat staring blankly over breakfast.  Completely wordless.  In a coma-like state.  I’m not kidding. I had never seen anything like it.  In fact, it was so shocking to me that I remember it all these years later.

That may have been the first time I realized that it takes some people time to get started in the morning.  Shockingly, not everyone likes deep conversation (or any conversation for that matter) as soon as they awaken.

Waiting and listening to others is a good discipline to learn.  Observing conversational clues where the natural give-and-take in dialogue is not only polite, but allows room for the opinions of others, can be beneficial.  It is amazing what you can learn when you are not the only one talking! 

The same goes for prayer.  Sometimes I need to remind myself of that when I pray.  Although it is lucky for me that God is an early riser and (I am assuming) never gets tired of hearing from me, the truth is, it is so easy to multiply words in prayer that sometimes we forget to be still and listen.

One of the most amazing ways to pray is simply to hold a crucifix (a cross with the body of Christ on it) and just look at it.  Let your thoughts flow in silence and listen for any prompting from God that might surface.

In an adoration chapel one day, when I was sitting before the Body of Christ reserved in a *monstrance, it occurred to me that, as I was presenting God with my list of concerns and needs, he already knew them!  While it was good for me to pray them, it was comforting to make this realization.

If you have been away from prayer for awhile, or maybe never even gave it any real effort, I encourage you—today—to try.  If you don’t have a crucifix, grab a picture of one online and use that.  Any little step you make toward God will be rewarded tenfold.  I promise.

Janet Cassidy

janetcassidy.com 

*Monstrance—Receptacle used to hold the consecrated host (the Body of Christ)   

  for visible adoration.