Day 354.

I woke up too early this morning, for it was my morning to sleep in (this term is relative now that we are parents - sleeping in is 7:30/8:00 at best). I was wide awake at 7am with my kids running around the house in the background. I wanted to stay in bed but couldn't justify it. So, I got out my devotional book I recently started (eager to begin a new spiritual discipline since this one, my blog, will be ending soon) and decided to do my 2 minute time with God in the morning. It was just what I needed.

Because of Advent, and with the help of this wonderful devotional for women, I've been doing a lot of thinking about waiting. I'm not a very good waiter. I am anxious, impatient, and often annoyed at the waiting. I just want to get it over with and get the good part here...or the bad part over with, depending on what I'm waiting for.

I've also thought a lot of about waiting in regards to our own church conflict and healing. I just want to get it over with...to heal, to welcome, to be done. But the waiting is powerful.

from Sacred Journeys: A Woman's Book of Daily Prayer by Jan L. Richardson:
"We must acknowledge that not all waiting ends in the birth of new life. Babies arrive stillborn. Dreams disperse. Revolutions die.

At these times, community becomes particularly important. Awkwardness and uncertainty may sometimes dull a community's response when a long-awaited birth ends in brokenness. Yet communities with skill in healing know that what sustained us in waiting will sustain us in grief. Our wounds begin to heal as they are bound by strong threads of connection: spirits that recognize and know our inner beings, voices that bless, arms that hold our rage and embrace our sorrow."

I am grateful for the words of Jan Richardson.