“A waiting person is a patient person. The word ‘patience’ means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb.” -Henri Nouwen
Exploring contemplative awareness in daily life, drawing from and with much discussion of the writings of Thomas Merton, aka "Father Louie".
Thank you for this true and practical insight..
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, JofIndia!
ReplyDeleteI felt it was a contemplative thought, with its emphasis on living and waiting in the present moment ... not waiting for something in the future, but waiting, now.
Yes, an almost Buddhist approach of "being" in the present.
ReplyDeleteI keep trying to remind myself there is nowhere else to be - but old habits are difficult to break.
this "waiting" stuff feels like it's killing me
ReplyDeletegood song by leonard cohen:
"waiting for the miracle to come"
Richard Rohr puts it this way:
ReplyDelete"...We are not waiting for the coming of an ideal church or any perfect world here and now, or even for the next world. The kingdom is more than all of these. It is always here and not here. It is always now and not yet..."
Always now and not yet ...