As I mentioned the other day, a friend gave me the book called Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting by Holly Whitcomb. Over the next week, I thought I would offer you both a few of the things that stood out to me in this book as you all are in a season of active waiting as Jens is healing from the surgery and as you wait to figure out next steps.
"...it is hard to trust the slow unfolding of God's action. God's time is different from our time. In God's time, we are often waiting for the bigger picture but must be content with each small piece. When we are waiting, we put one foot in front of the other every morning and every evening." (pg 15)
"Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite naturally, impatient, in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages; we are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability...and that may take a very long time." -Pierre Tielhard de Chardin (pg. 19)
"In difficult times of waiting, I have always appreciated psychologist Jack Kornfield's clarifying questions:
- How have I treated this difficulty thus far?
- What does this problem ask me to let go of?
- What great lesson might it be able to teach me?
- What is the gold, the value, hidden in this situation?" (pg 21)
" 'Don't let the time do you. You do the time.' My hairdresser quoted these words to me recently as I was getting my hair cut. She has been waiting years for her son to be released from prison on an armed-robbery charge, and the waiting is hard. She attends a support group for family members whose loved ones are serving time. The group is led by an ex-con who says, 'This is how we survive on the inside and how all of you can survive on the outside: 'Don't let the time do you. You do the time.' This kind of active waiting is good advice for anyone who waits." (pg 22)
"Patience means trusting there's no quick fix..." (pg 26)
The first gift of waiting is patience:
Patience means trusting that there's no quick fix.
Patience invites us to trust the fullness of God's time.
Patience opens us to active waiting.
Patience gives us time to be available to others.
"...it is hard to trust the slow unfolding of God's action. God's time is different from our time. In God's time, we are often waiting for the bigger picture but must be content with each small piece. When we are waiting, we put one foot in front of the other every morning and every evening." (pg 15)
"Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite naturally, impatient, in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages; we are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability...and that may take a very long time." -Pierre Tielhard de Chardin (pg. 19)
"In difficult times of waiting, I have always appreciated psychologist Jack Kornfield's clarifying questions:
- How have I treated this difficulty thus far?
- What does this problem ask me to let go of?
- What great lesson might it be able to teach me?
- What is the gold, the value, hidden in this situation?" (pg 21)
" 'Don't let the time do you. You do the time.' My hairdresser quoted these words to me recently as I was getting my hair cut. She has been waiting years for her son to be released from prison on an armed-robbery charge, and the waiting is hard. She attends a support group for family members whose loved ones are serving time. The group is led by an ex-con who says, 'This is how we survive on the inside and how all of you can survive on the outside: 'Don't let the time do you. You do the time.' This kind of active waiting is good advice for anyone who waits." (pg 22)
"Patience means trusting there's no quick fix..." (pg 26)
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