The Path of Waiting
Henri Nouwen [emphasis mine]

Waiting is waiting with a sense of promise. It is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more. Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon and Anna were living with a promise. It was a promise that nurtured them, fed them, and enabled them to stay where they were.

Second, their waiting is active. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. Right here is a secret for us about waiting: if we wait in the conviction that a seed has been planted and that something has already begun, it changes the way we wait. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, believing that this moment is the moment.

A waiting person is a patient person– someone who is willing to stay where we are and live the situation to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people expect the real thing to happen somewhere else, and therefore they want to get away from the present situation and go elsewhere. For them the moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are–nurturing the growth of something growing within.

Waiting is open-ended. This is hard for us because we tend to wait for something that we wish to have. Much of our waiting is filled with wishes: “I wish I had a job. I wish the weather were better. I wish the pain would go away.” We are full of wishes, and our waiting easily gets entangled in those wishes.

We want the future to go in a specific direction, and if it doesn’t happen, we are disappointed, and can even slip into despair. We want to do things that will make the desired events take place and thus satisfy our wishes. Our wishes tend to be connected with our fears, and fear of course prevents us from allowing time in our lives for open-ended waiting. Our waiting becomes a way of controlling the future.

But Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon and Anna were not filled with wishes. They were filled with HOPE. It is a hope that trusts that fulfillment would come, but fulfillment according to the promises of God and not just according to their wishes. It is a trust that allows us to wait and be open to all possibilities.