Back to the great book, "Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting" by Holly Whitcomb. The sixth gift of waiting is humility. She opens this chapter with "sometimes we wait because we can't do anything else. We recognize we are powerless". We learn to lean on God during this time and experience grace because we can't "do" anything about our situation.
Once we stop trying to "do" something, we may have more time to see who we actually are and evaluate what is important to us. We see that the times we have "done" something are not as important as the times that we have loved someone. The author says that the despair of waiting can bring us low...and that change in perspective helps us see others around us who are struggling, too. We learn to value people more and honor the human journey more.
She ends with the thought that humility allows us to see our weaknesses and our flaws. But, it also allows us to see our strengths and our potential. As we wait, we need to acknowledge what good things the wait brings out of us as well as work on the not-so-good qualities we see in ourselves.
It makes me feel like while waiting, God hands you a great big mirror like the kind you find in dressing rooms. The lighting brings out all your flaws and wrinkles. What do you see in there? Do you still have a happy glow about you or is it all slumped shoulders and frowns? Do you look for the good qualities or only the bad? What can we learn from this mirror?
Here's looking at you, fellow waiters! Hope you see lots of good stuff in your mirrors!
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1 comment:
Caught your blog on AF website, never replied to one before- I too am a wife of 8 years, mom of 3.5 and impatient waiter of 35- also have an Aug birthday :-) our LID for #2 is 9/06. My 5 year old just started Kindergarten. We adopted her at 20 mos in 12/04. Enjoyed your blog- good to see others who are waiting, too. Jen K (bobjenkiesling@msn.com)
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