Waiting with Patience
How do we wait for God? We wait with patience. But patience does not mean passivity. Waiting patiently is not like waiting for the bus to come, the rain to stop, or the sun to rise. It is an active waiting in which we live the present moment to the full in order to find there the signs of the One we are waiting for.
The word patience comes from the Latin verb patior which means “to suffer.” Waiting patiently is suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the full, and letting the seeds that are sown in the ground on which we stand grow into strong plants. Waiting patiently always means paying attention to what is happening right before our eyes and seeing there the first rays of God’s glorious coming.
by Henri Nouwen
Take a bit of time to let these words linger in your heart. What particular seeds have been sown in your life, in the life of Southpoint, that are presently in a season of patient, quiet suffering as the invisible work of growth toward a strong plant occurs?

1 Comment. Leave new
Small Ritual comes to mind when suffering through the moment is mentioned! It, however, hasn’t always looked like waiting and being patient – we were trying like mad to make it work and to save it! Some of us have thought that our own energy and drive could save SRC and look at what has happened – a woman, totally unconnected to our church (any church!), has come forward with a heart to save this place of community. I know that we are meant to be actively waiting, but I am assuming that it needs to be in conjunction with a desire to know and a faith in what God has planned for us. I sense that we at Southpoint are being called (again and again) to come to God in prayer – He wants to speak to us and guide us.