Waiting on God

As a waitress at an inn in a resort town years ago, I would stand poised at the guests’ table, pencil and pad in hand. I was not idly passing time. I was preparing to be of service by “waiting on” the guests. When they were ready to order, I would record their meal choices on my pad and then convey what I had written to the chef in the kitchen.

Recently I was thinking of that experience in the light of what it means to wait on God. While I may not be standing poised with pencil and pad, I can, nevertheless, wait on God with that same readiness to serve Him. I can prayerfully listen for, and be receptive to, what He is asking of me.

Waiting on God involves maintaining an aura of expectancy and a readiness to follow through, knowing that He gives us only messages or ideas that we can fulfill. Every order from divine Mind, the Mind of God, has a purpose that can’t be thwarted or undermined.

Jesus’ whole life was committed to waiting on God. His every act was a direct result of that expectant waiting. His waiting did not include lapses of time. One might even say that time had no place in a life lived in such intimate communion with the Father. What better model for waiting on God than Jesus’ life and works.

Servants stand ready to receive orders. They don’t delay in responding when summoned. To wait on God is to be alert to heed His summons. It’s not “hanging around” waiting for something to happen. Acknowledging His presence in our lives reveals new opportunities to serve Him, whether it’s a call to pray, even when we may not ever know the results of our prayers, or whether it’s a call to take action as the result of prayer. The prophet Hosea offers this direction: “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually” (Hosea 12:6).

I recall writing to a cousin in a distant city upon hearing of her divorce. She had married without her parents’ blessing, and the marriage had foundered. It was at a time when divorce was generally shunned.

I paused before putting pen to paper, waiting on God for just the right words to express my support for her courage in taking this difficult step. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter of gratitude from her. Our long-distance friendship deepened as a result of that exchange of letters, and she recalls it gratefully to this day.

How many times do we each have the opportunity to wait on God for the right moment to speak, the right words to comfort, the appropriate time to encourage? Waiting on God is not passive; it’s a state of readiness to respond in a Christly manner.

Our status as sons and daughters of God assures us of His ever-presence in our lives. It is our privilege to wait on God – to be poised to accept His order knowing that He never asks of us more than we can fulfill. We honor His presence by waiting on Him, standing ready “with pencil and pad,” to make the moment at hand count for what He is requiring of us.

Rising above the fray

Sometimes you may feel you’re in a compromised position. Perhaps it’s a neighborhood disagreement or an upset in the workplace. Or it could be a family squabble. Although not directly involved, you may be tempted to take sides, adding your own opinions to an escalating confrontation. But isn’t there a better approach – one that doesn’t draw you into the fray?

Peaceful disagreement

Support given without words, either pro or con, can be very effective. Maintaining a balance when matters are spinning out of control can help contribute to an amicable solution.

I’ve found that this approach requires keeping my thought free to welcome in healing ideas that include a genuine love for both parties. Focusing on each one’s spiritually pure nature – and the God-like attributes making up that nature – helps elevate my thought above the controversy.

We can face down the dark thoughts that try to crowd out joy, and hold fast to the goodness inherent in each individual as a loved expression of a divine Parent. In doing this, we can avoid taking on personal responsibility for the outcome. Our efforts to rise to a healing atmosphere of thought are rewarded. In this love-filled space, where God reigns, there can be no support for feelings of antagonism or alienation. This approach brings with it a peaceful assurance that God is operating in the minutiae of our life – and removes the onus of taking sides.

I saw this proved recently. A disagreement between two members of opposite sides of the family was threatening the plans for a family gathering. As an onlooker to this squabble, I could take sides, or I could let prayer raise my thinking to a higher realm, a healing one.

I reasoned that taking sides would only widen the rift, but refusing to side with either party and supporting a right solution through prayer would help restore harmony.

This statement from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy inspired me to proceed in this direction: “Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it”. I knew my thinking about the situation needed elevating.

This was evident when one of the individuals attempted to win me over to her side. The idea of Love “enlarging, purifying, and [especially] elevating” my nature enabled me to lift my thought above the temptation to take sides, and still to remain loving, but neutral.

As I maintained this altitude, challenging the downward pull to dwell on the discord, I saw that I could remain impartial by refusing to indulge in criticism of either party.

I found support for this stance in this statement, also from Science and Health: “Nothing is real and eternal, – nothing is Spirit, – but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense”.

When we witness disturbances that threaten to throw us off balance, we can be most effective by maintaining our spiritual poise.

The door to that “elevator” is always available as we seek a healing refuge in which to open our thought in prayer to God’s messages. In the quiet of elevated thought, we can rejoice in the promise of healing that lifts us into the atmosphere of Love’s ever-presence where there is no room for misunderstanding or hurt feelings.

The victory for me lay in not taking sides but in maintaining a spiritual altitude. Later I heard from one family member that peace between them had been restored.

Staying out of the fray, but not ignoring it, enabled me to contribute through prayer to its resolution. Siding with God, instead of persons, places us in a healing role. What better part to play!

Source: Christian Science Monitor