This series we have be doing at The Chapel on waiting has really picked my interest. (If you haven’t heard them, you can pull them of Itunes.)
The thing is I don’t really think the depths of the topic can be explored in a presentation format. There are so many twist and turns. So many “yea but”s that I think a conversation is required to fully develop the thought and accurately explain all the possible misunderstandings that can arise.
So what have you been thinking about what you’ve been hearing? Let someone know what is happening in your head. I would love to hear your reflections.
I never really thought that much about waiting until this series Jay, but I have definitely realized how many different aspects there are to it. Thinking on this has led me all kinds of places, which I will briefly share with you in a rambling sort of way.
I have certainly done my share of waiting in my life, but never really thought of it in any way except negatively. The world today is into total instant gratification, and I am right there with it. Waiting is not a popular thing. When I want something, I want it now, and I hate to hear someone tell me to be patient. Did I ever have patience? Not sure but I do not feel I have much right now. I spend so much time wanting things to happen that when they finally do, they go by so fast. We hurry up the pace of everything to the point that we never really even get to stop and enjoy what is happening in the now. If we can wait with patience, we have a lot more time to focus on today.
How many times in my life have I looked BACK with nostalgia at some event? Many. How many times have I looked FORWARD into the future with anticipation of some event? Many. What about THIS moment? What about the NOW? Sometimes I really just miss it, because I am looking forward or looking back, which is sad, because it really robs the enjoyment of today. God is doing things with me (and others) right now, right this second, and if I do not stop and notice it I will totally miss it, and easily fly right by an opportunity he gives me. Sometimes things are also happening in other peoples lives that I need to take more time to notice and help them celebrate, grieve, laugh, or cry about. God gives us all these experiences, and we should pay attention to each one. Everything is moving so fast around me, and I want and need to slow down and enjoy simple pleasures. Here is an example of a really, really special moment when I stopped the world and just waited:
I walked outside last night and was in a hurry on my way to do something, when I noticed a sound. It was a small sound, but it rang clear in my head. It was really weird to me until I stopped and listened closely and realized what it was. The leaves were falling in the woods behind my house. That was it — no great crashing noise or event, just the leaves. It was almost like a clock ticking in my head as I heard each small beat of a leaf hitting the ground. I stood there for like 5 minutes and could hear almost nothing else while I allowed God to control the pace of my heart, and my thoughts in a spiritual kind of tempo. To that beat I started counting the people in my life that I am thankful for, that I struggle with, that I am concerned for, etc., etc. Funny thing was, I did not think about work, or money, or any of those things, only people. It was a great moment with God. If I had not stopped, listened and waited on God to lead my thoughts, I would have missed it, and that would have been very sad. How many of these opportunities have I missed?
Well Jay, I am quite sure that nopne of this I just articulated entered your head at all as you prepared these lessons for us, but you asked what was in my head, and you got it! Thanks for your part every day in trying to lead me closer to God. Sometimes it gets through! Keep prying on my spirit, God is honoring it.
Comment by Dennis Rice — December 13, 2006 @ 12:15 am |
[...] Jay asked in his blog what people were thinking as a result of what he has been teaching at The Chapel about waiting. I posted this comment in response to his posty, but wanted to post it here in my blog also… [...]
Pingback by On waiting …. « Here’s what’s in my head… — December 13, 2006 @ 12:33 am |
As I’ve reflected on this series, I’ve realized the times I’ve given God my utmost attention have been during periods of waiting, the time that stand out the most, is waiting for the phone call that we could go pick up Amber, our adopted daughter. I spent more time with God during that waiting period than I had in years leading up to that event. (As is often the case when we want something, or need something).
I’ve also realized that when waiting for God’s direction, for his call, for where he wants me to go next, I’ve often viewed waiting as doing nothing…and t hen I start feeling guilty…I’m not doing anything, I feel that I have to do something so I end up doing something I thought up…my idea, my plan, & not God’s. And Jay was dead on….I mess things up when I act on my own, it’s not enough, because I’m not …smart enough, powerful enough, objective enough, etc.
When looking at different periods of “waiting” in my life, I can also see in many instances the beauty, the perfect plan, in why God chose that period of waiting, and how that period of waiting made the end result more perfect.
So, What’s in my head today is…not to let waiting mean doing nothing, but to wait with open ears, open heart, and give that period of waiting over to God, knowing that he has designed the perfect plan, and I am not the director, I do not need to take over, God has it under control, I just need to wait.
Comment by Elisabeth Ruff — December 15, 2006 @ 6:03 am |
I guess I was meant to find this blog tonight. I’m in a very agonizing waiting period of my life and I get angry at having to wait for God to do something…ANYTHING… anything but be quiet. It seems like just waiting is somehow wrong, and I’m anxious to be on the other side of whatever is going to happen, even though I don’t know the outcome.
The comments in this post are very comforting. I’ll have to practice liking today when I would rather have tomorrow over with, and the next day, and the next day, until I finally get to that place where I can look back and say to God, “so that’s why it took so long to be completed”….I’m not to that point yet. I wish He would just skip all the days in between today and the point where He tells me I made it through to the other side.
Comment by Pro Se — May 1, 2007 @ 11:44 pm |
Two new studies show why some people are more attractive for members of the opposite sex than others.
The University of Florida, Florida State University found that physically attractive people almost instantly attract the attention of the interlocutor, sobesednitsy with them, literally, it is difficult to make eye. This conclusion was reached by a series of psychological experiments, which were determined by the people who believe in sending the first seconds after the acquaintance. Here, a curious feature: single, unmarried experimental preferred to look at the guys, beauty opposite sex, and family, people most often by representatives of their sex.
The authors believe that this feature developed a behavior as a result of the evolution: a man trying to find a decent pair to acquire offspring. If this is resolved, he wondered potential rivals. Detailed information about this magazine will be published Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In turn, a joint study of the Rockefeller University, Rockefeller University and Duke University, Duke University in North Carolina revealed that women are perceived differently by men smell. During experiments studied the perception of women one of the ingredients of male pheromone-androstenona smell, which is contained in urine or sweat.
The results were startling: women are part of this repugnant odor, and the other part is very attractive, resembling the smell of vanilla, and the third group have not felt any smell. The authors argue that the reason is that the differences in the receptor responsible for the olfactory system, from different people are different.
It has long been proven that mammals (including human) odor is one way of attracting the attention of representatives of the opposite sex. A detailed article about the journal Nature will publish.
Comment by Tripleimima — November 16, 2007 @ 4:33 am |