More from Henri Nouwen ...
“Waiting, as we see it in the people on the first pages of (Luke’s) Gospel, is waiting with a sense of promise.
'Zechariah, your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son.' (Luke 1:13)
'Mary…Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son.' (Luke 1:31)
A Seed
People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow.
This is very important.
We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun in us.
Something More
So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It's always a movement from something to something more.
Zechariah, Mary, and Elizabeth were living with a promise that nurtured them, that fed them, and that made them able to stay where they were. And in this way, the promise itself could grow in them and for them.”
Reflection:
Read aloud Philippians 1:6 and Psalm 27:13-14 in any translation you prefer (or in several translations!). Spend some time meditating on the reality of those words in your own life, giving thanks to God for His promise that allows you to wait. As you wait, be confident in His faithfulness.
[excerpted from A Spirituality of Waiting by Henri Nouwen]
Henri J.M. Nouwen was a Dutch-born Catholic priest, professor, pastor, and author of thirty-nine books on the spiritual life.
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