Let’s ponder the mystery of waiting :
It takes a while for dough to rise,
for grapes to ferment,
for winter to pass,
for an egg to hatch,
for the godwits to return,
and a butterfly to form –
“good things take time”!
…
Slowly
She celebrated the sacrament of letting go
First she surrendered her green
Then the orange, yellow, and red
Finally she let go of her brown
Shedding her last leaf
She stood empty and silent, stripped bare.
Leaning against the winter sky
She began her vigil of trust.
~
And then,
The sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness,
Clothing her silhouettes
They kept her hope alive.
They helped her understand that
Her vulnerability
Her dependence and need
Her emptiness
Her readiness to receive
Were giving her a new kind of beauty
Every morning and every evening
They stood in silence
And celebrated together
The sacrament of waiting!
Macrina Wiederkehr, Seasons of your Heart, 1991.
…
Am I being invited to let go of something?
What good thing might be blocked by my tight holding?
…
Mauria te whakapono.
Believe in yourself – trust the process?
…
Today, consider space, emptiness, absence: invite the Holy One to come with you and draw your attention to a particular open space – it may be a stretch of water, an open field, the night sky, a large sand dune . . simply gaze.
Acknowledge the edges, the horizons, the perimeter … let them go and stay with the empty space.
No sketch pad, no journal, no device, no talking, no hurry,… simply be. Be with the focus of your gaze. . . let go, be with the absence, the waiting.