Franciscan Media: Transformative Waiting

It isn’t difficult for me to identify with the theme of waiting throughout the Advent season. I am someone who is always longing for someone or something. Longing is a part of who I am. It carries me into the mystery of the day. It fills my heart with hope, birthing dreams and desires within me. It feeds my determination and drive. Of course, there is a dark side to longing. Sometimes it leads to obsession. Sometimes it’s difficult to live in the present. Sometimes I even self-sabotage to get back into a state of longing. But overall, longing usually serves me well, as long as it doesn’t pull me out of the intimacy that is always attainable in the present.

The thing about longing, though, is that it inevitably involves waiting, for I cannot simply grab hold of all my bursting dreams, bottomless desires, and deep convictions in a day. Richard Rohr defines suffering as “whenever we are not in control,” and in the heights of my longing and the depths of my waiting, I realize how little control I actually have. A longing soul is probably in for a lifetime of suffering—and, to be honest, part of me doesn’t mind it...

This blog was first published on Franciscan Spirit. You can read the rest of the blog entry HERE.