Sometimes, we wait not for change but for the grace to accept the status quo. We must embrace the way things are and let life frame the love we have to share. We wait for meaning to be made apparent. We wait for the things we are promised or will choose.
We wait as things unfold and take the shape they will,
not knowing what the future holds or quite where we are flying… or what we have begun. ~Call the Midwife, Season 10 Episode 5
Ah, the simple profundities in the heartwarming series, Call the Midwife. The show never fails to provide food for thought about the human condition. This little excerpt reminded me that we do spend our lives waiting. Playing the waiting game. Whether consciously or not.
At this age, with so much more time behind me than ahead, I still wait, sometimes. But far less than I did when I was younger and had so many more variables at play in my life.
Family, education, career, homes and all the other thing that were so changeable when we were younger are mostly static, now. Not entirely, gone, but certainly less critical than they were in our youth.
Waiting still required
Still, we do wait, whether it’s in traffic or something else. The results of medical tests. The fate of a loved one. For someone to come to their senses (one of my favorites). Our own later age romantic entanglements.
Some of us, like me, push the wait. Waiting was never my strong suit. That is, I’ve always suffered from the belief that my force of will can change anything. Wasn’t I surprised when my mother died and I couldn’t do anything to change that. And wasn’t I surprised when fate threw other curve balls requiring difficult decisions.
About accepting what is
I love the idea of waiting not for change but for the grace to accept the status quo. We must embrace the way things are because most of the time we can’t change that.
And, as the show points out, as long as we have love to share, we can still express that love within the framework of our own lives. That’s really what I’d like the rest of my life to be about.
Oh, sure. I’ll play the waiting game from time to time. But I do see now how it’s all about love.
If I allow myself to rage against the wait, it’s not pretty for anyone around me. Over the years, I’ve made peace with waiting. Sometimes my ears ring with tension, and I want to push my way through, but the peace in the wait is better for me (and those around me! ;))
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Thank you for this post… I think I’ve been waiting for it. 🙂
Exactly!
Who was it who said, ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re waiting for something else’? Me? I hate waiting…
Not my strong suit, either, D.
Good one. Always helpful.
If I allow myself to rage against the wait, it’s not pretty for anyone around me. Over the years, I’ve made peace with waiting. Sometimes my ears ring with tension, and I want to push my way through, but the peace in the wait is better for me (and those around me! ;))