Meditation: "Two Kinds of Waiting"

It occurred to me this morning that there are two kinds of waiting – and that I spend far more time doing one kind than the other. The kind of waiting that I seem addicted to is like the waiting the man at the sheep market pool did in the gospel of John. He had felt “powerless” (terribly ill) for 38 years, John tells us, and each day he waited at the presumably magical pool for some special material occurrence that would heal him. He was essentially imprisoned – paralyzed – by his belief that the water of the pool had great power and controlled his destiny. However, he was fortunate that Jesus passed by the pool, because Jesus revealed to him, in just a few words, a wonderful truth – a truth that turned this waiting man’s world around 180 degrees. Jesus told the man he was “whole”. He made it clear to him that he was already – right this moment – an essential part of an infinite, harmonious dance called life. What the man learned, and what I hope to learn over and over today, is that we don’t need to wait for salvation, or healing, or safety, or comfort, or harmony. All of these are already present with us, each moment. What I do have to wait for today is the next astonishing miracle, but this is the happy, eager, breathless kind of waiting that we all love. What marvels will unfold in the next moment? That’s the question I need to ask myself all day today, and then wait excitedly for the answer to be revealed.