The grace of waiting

Hospitals are waiting places. Today, I visited a friend who has been in hospital for two weeks. It is a time of waiting.....she is not very ill, but her condition means that she has to be under close scrutiny because medically speaking, complications could occur. Her blood count - one type of cell remains very low and the various treatments do not seem to work. This means 'waiting' and watching, everyday's blood count an important indicator of recovery. I bumped into an acquaintance in the waiting room...........she has been 'waiting' for almost three months...her husband having had a bone marrow transplant. Waiting every day, without even the comfort of spending much time with him, because he is in an isolation room to prevent infection. As my friend remarked, she is living Advent right there at the haematology ward. I must say that as I spoke to both my friends, I was encouraged by the grace of waiting I see in their hearts.

We wait.......and the ability to do this well is itself a grace. Life can go on quite well without us. It takes time to get used to the fact that much of our time in this world is spent waiting. How to do this creatively and with patient trust is a spiritual task the Lord may be inviting.

Advent involves a waiting that longs for an answer, and yet does not limit God's movements to certain tangible results that we determine is best for us - what we wish for here and now. It nurtures in us an expectant waiting, an expectant faith that is so secure in the person of God that we can submit to his ordering of things.