“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” (Arnold H. Glasow 1905-1998)
On occasion, an active imagination is more a curse than a blessing. For folks with active minds, waiting patiently results in conjuring up too many potential next steps. We let our minds lead us into places we would not go if we did not have to wait patiently.
Halloween has just passed, Thanksgiving is on the way, the rugged road towards Christmas looms ahead.
I have no beef with Halloween. I am content to welcome crowds of kids who come to our door asking for candy and other treats. Some kids are old school – they ring the doorbell and when we great them they say, “Trick or Treat.” They are okay describing their costumes and their alter egos. After we add to their already overflowing bags of candy they remember to say, “Thank you.”
Then there are the kids who show up two minutes before the official hours of gathering candy come to an end. They just hold out their bags hoping we want to unload what candy we have left so that we can turn out the lights and have a late dinner. No conversation, no trick or treat, just the bag thrust at us. No thank you or acknowledgement of our additions to their bags. Unfortunately, those kids set my mood for the rest of the night.
I am glad I do not have to wait at the door any longer. I have no patience with seeming indifference to the spirit of Halloween. My wife is more philosophical and sanguine concerning the whole Halloween experience. While I am relieved to see the night end, she wants to be certain that by turning out the lights, we haven’t left someone in the dark hoping for one last Hershey kiss. Just an aside, I wonder if anyone really remembers what Halloween is all about.
On to Thanksgiving.
Commercialism seems to have missed the opportunity to turn Thanksgiving into another occasion for spending and buying more stuff. Thanksgiving is my most happily anticipated holiday.
For me, Thanksgiving is about family gatherings, food, fellowship, and most importantly, giving thanks for all life’s blessings. It’s the time I actually understand and acknowledge how blessed I am and how grateful I am for all that is my life. Whether my life is a result of karma or an all-loving and forgiving Creator – it doesn’t matter much right then and there. I wholeheartedly experience abundant joy and gratitude. I promise myself to hold on to this feeling for another 364 days. As I get older, this promise is easier and easier to keep. I’d like to think it’s wisdom at work but it might just be how I am processing that which is important in life during my “declining” years.
I don’t dwell on what the first Thanksgiving was like or the fate of the turkey the President will pardon. I do think, however, of the people who sat around the table that first Thanksgiving. I’d like to think they understood how much they needed each other’s best ideals and values as the days unfolded before them all. I am grateful, even thankful, for family, friends, and blessings galore. I wait patiently for Thanksgiving and I am sorry to have the day end. I know what’s coming next.
For a pastor, Christmas is lots of things but to tell the truth, many pastors wait patiently for Christmas afternoon.
For me, Christmas afternoon, I enjoy spending quiet time with my wife in front of the fireplace. I am sad that at my age, my family is all gone or live too far away to visit within the short interval pastors have between the last service at Christmas and preparation for preaching the next week. Some pastors try to squeeze a few days off after Christmas, but inevitably bad weather, an untimely death of a church member or general exhaustion alter one’s plans.
Hope seems to have vanished.
Hope has been replaced by a subtle feeling that the world with all its temptations and distractions has hijacked much of the joy the recently completed holidays should have offered. I am sometimes disappointed with my response to what the holidays have become. I am jealous of the time off most folks have, time off to have real uninterrupted time with family, friends, and celebration.
Next Up
So I patiently wait for my time, a time in my year when I can slow down, reflect, and take stock of who I am. This time is known as the Forty Days of Lent ending at the joyful rise of the sun on Easter morning. Lent is all about patiently waiting for a new beginning, a new chance at life. Holy Week is the most solemn, most joyful week in my life as pastor. From the glorious celebration of Psalm Sunday to the dreadful expectation and sadness of Maundy Thursday, I allow myself to wait patiently for what I know is coming-Easter morning joy.
I am in my season of waiting patiently, of holding on to hope, of anticipating great joy. I know in the next few months I will be pleasantly surprised by unexpected encounters with all that is good and decent in life. I will be encouraged and discouraged. I will experience happiness and sadness, great satisfaction and helpful longings. All the while I will wait patiently.
A Parting Word
For those of you who may not share my faith or understand my experience pastoring to folks, let me offer this. We are all waiting patiently for something we value. We are all hoping and longing for something we need from life. It might be healing from accumulated hurt, relief from stress and disease, renewal of relationships, new opportunities. Very few of us are lucky enough to be able to fully embrace life without some longing of one sort or another. We hope, we wish for, we may even pray for things to ease our quiet anxieties and our discomforts.
You are not alone. You are surrounded by folks you know as well as folks yet to be discovered in your life. They will, at the absolute right moment, arrive in your life. They will bring you peace and joy, comfort and hope. Don’t stop waiting patiently for this miracle to occur in your life. Don’t ever stop waiting patiently for the good in life. It’s a prayer away. It’s a person away. Let me know who that person turns out to be for you.
Lovely. I recently found that person on a visit to distant relatives I barely know. Driving through neighborhoods lighted for Christmas proved to be innocently joyful and hopefully promising.
Thanks Karen, I have enjoyed your recent posts as well. You write with great detail, a thing I lack. Also, you are quite a story-teller – a very specific skill not many folks possess.