Waiting Room

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 36:26

If it's ok with you,

could we chat together, seated side by side in this waiting room of life-

since we're all in it together?

We're all talking about it anyway.

We want to change our wait.

You know,

change our waiting time,

the looming space between now and a future desire.

And I know I've said it and you've said it and we've all said it in different ways,

as toddlers and as adults:

"God, give me patience - and I want it right now!"

And oh, how many other words would we insert - which we want right now - no wait involved?

Healing?

Peace?

Answers?

Something lost to be found?

Purpose?

Meaning?

What could possibly help us to endure the wait?

I see a sign, a subtle framed one, below my staircase. I'd possibly miss it, unless I'm attentive.

It reads:

Pray. Trust. Wait.

Interesting order, those words.

And sure enough, it's the "Wait" that I wouldn't mind erasing.

Isn't it the most challenging part of this triad?

Just saying the word can give pause. Panic. Pandemonium.

Yet those are the words in each of our waiting rooms.

But waiting is just so...

uncomfortable. (Why?)

unpredictable. (How much longer?)

uncertain. (Will something good come from this?)

Because the "wait" you and I are enduring in the waiting room of life?

It's serious. It's time-consuming. It's all-consuming.

It's a gradual heart revision.

It's uncomfortable, this operation by the Great Physician.

It's unpredictable, this expanded heart's feel and function.

It's uncertain, how this changed heart will operate within us upon our thoughts, feelings and actions.

And while we're still chatting together here in the waiting room,

let's just admit that this life-long procedure itself may be an unpopular choice.

But it is indeed a choice.

God calls believers to this set-apart lifestyle in which they increasingly

demonstrate outwardly the inward transformation of the heart. (1)

And let's admit that the waiting room and recovery room feel like a revolving door to the operating room.

We may hear each other saying,

"I don't want to be patient!

I don't want to be this patient!

I don't want to be a patient at all!"

as we attempt to wheel ourselves in another direction,

find the nearest exit,

escape, and

throw off this see-through, paper-thin gown revealing all of our flaws.

But that's all sin is. Backing away, running away from Perfect Love.

And this Good Doc is everywhere, it seems, looking for us.

In the outpatient center:

"Trust in me; I made your heart and I know how it's created to function optimally."

In the Urgent Care:

"Be patient. Be My patient. Be Mine."

In the Emergency Room:

"I will find you, because you are dying without me. Remember: I will never leave you or forsake you."

What's going on here?

Is this Great Healer actually reckless by giving patients a choice in the matter?

Doesn't His regimen seem overwhelming?

Never-ending?

Yet it's not a surgical knife He presents, it's His Son, as He reminds us:

"This is my body I have given up for you. I have died so that you can have Life to the full."

And it's not that see-through, paper-thin gown He's chasing us to wear:

It's the robe of righteousness which He reminds us:

"You're already worthy of wearing this - you don't have to wait; it's lined with my mercy and grace."

He's simply waiting to secure it upon us, to ensure our security.

And it's not the operating table He beckons as much as it is the banquet table:

"Come! You're invited to consume Love! To be consumed by Love! To be served in order to serve!"

Let's be real.

This is a life-long procedure requiring constant revisions and repairs.

It will be gradual work, allowing Him...

to increase the blood-flow of our compassion and self-compassion;

to recirculate any heart vessels that lead to loving others which are presently closed-off or blocked off;

to loosen connections to attachments and strengthen connections to the Sacred Heart.

So, fair warning:

this surgery has us perpetually "wearing our hearts on our sleeves."

In the waiting, there will be times we feel tender, exposed and raw.

Or it may be a life-long side-effect.

But it's in the persisting and the returning for this revision that we begin to feel the potential:

our hearts transforming, eternal, reunited with the Divine Heart.

Pray. Trust. Wait.

It's deep, this gradual and complex change taking place in the midst.

In the middle of us. In the center of our being.

And if waiting is about our willingness to undergo a heart-repair,

waiting has to be about a heart-to-Heart relationship:

Praying our heart-felt feelings with the One Who created our hearts;

Trusting the Divine heart's rhythm to regulate our rhythm.

Waiting in the space of the Spirit's presence.

Even when our hearts feel heavy with worry...

Especially when our hearts feel laden with burden...

the orientation of this heart to Heart relationship "rights" our perspective, sets us upright,

and allows us to recognize and feel the circulation of righteousness (God's gift of grace) flowing within us.

Peace is a sense of wholeness and well-being that comes through a right relationship with God. (2)

It's still a challenge, this waiting room - this life of ours, this heart of ours.

But the most compelling reason to wait?

Because God waits.

Because His priority is Self-revelation.

To Show God's Self.

To be Seen.

Open the curtain behind this waiting room, and everything changes.

"How come (or why me? or why this?)" becomes, "What is God (Love) revealing to me in this moment?"

"How much longer?" becomes, "How many ways is God (Love) showing up in the wait?"

"How can anything good come from this?" becomes, "How is God (Love) going to prevail no matter the outcome?"

The subject is the Creator and Good Physician, not us.

And if God's goodness is to make everything into love, it's going to take time.

And since God's goodness is to make us into Love, it's going to take waiting.

And maybe the "waiting room" has another name.

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of ...Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. Romans 5:2, The Message

As we say, "YES" to the heart-transformation, we realize we're already enveloped in the Divine Heart.

As we say, "YES," God expands our hearts to have a greater capacity for Love, to Love.

And "YES!"- this is worth shouts of praise throughout the life-long procedure!

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.

One more caution in the Fine print.

This verse does not affirm that all things are good (or feel good), or that all things work together for good for all people (pain and suffering still occur). Rather, the great promise is that God will overrule

and work even through the tragedies caused by sin's presence in the world to accomplish His purposes in the lives of those who love Him and who have responded to His call. (3)

Pray. Trust. Wait.

Will we pray to this Presiding Heart?

Will we trust this Prevailing Heart?

Will we wait in this Perfect Love?

By the way, let's share with our fellow wait-ers that in each waiting room, we have more than free Wi-fi:

we have free access to Wisdom through the Holy Spirit's communication. We can tune in to this.

Actively waiting.

Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment,

in the conviction that something is happening where you want to be present to it.

A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment,

who believes that this moment is the moment. - Mornings with Henri J.M. Nouwen

Because this moment is the moment of our present conversion.

Let's keep our robes on together, encouraging one another to stay with it

*Please look up Reckless Love (Official Lyric Video) by Cory Asbury, in case the link doesn't populate.

(1-3) The Woman's Study Bible, The New King James Version