Waiting
“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell
This is a waiting day. We awake early to wait to see the sun rise one more time from behind the Gulf of Mexico. Amazing. There is one other seeker on the beach sitting at the water’s edge facing the east waiting as well. For a few minutes we are connected, “ the two or three that are gathered together.” All creation is still except for the loud roar of the ocean waves which seem to say, “we are too busy and are not stopping even if this star does not appear on stage today.” It doesn’t take long for the bright orange to slowly peak out from under the sea’s dark morning heavy blanket. It is spectacular with yellow, pink, red soon splattered above our sight. It is too much to comprehend.
I look to find other mentors for the day about waiting. I need not go far. The Monarch butterflies with their sunlight orange, black, and white wings are arriving. They are waking from their night rest and warming in the new sunlight as they wait for the perfect air current to take them on their long flight over the gulf to a valley in Mexico. Are they same ones who came out of their chrysalis on the milkweed plants on our deck in Little Rock? Probably not, but they may be related. I hope to remember their patience, resilience, persistence next spring.
Later in the early morning we sit and wait in church for the early Sunday service to begin. The eight o’clockers are mostly introverts, quietly finding a place near the back of the church. A few brave ones do go up to the first row of pews. We later find out they are reading lessons in the service. There is no music at eight. The procession of the altar party is silent. They are like the sun trying not to make a spectacle, but their silence and sacredness is just as powerful announcing a new day with one more message of love for new eyes to see and new ears to hear.
Waiting is indeed an art, a scared spiritual practice. Like almost everything else, it does take practice to appreciate it, but it always promises manna and a favorable wind just for this day until we are ready to wait again.
Joanna joannaseibert.com
