Waiting for the Vaccine

"Have you received your vaccine yet?"

How often have you been asked that question lately? How often have you asked that question?

We quiz each other about our age, our health plans, attempts we've made to get an appointment. We offer congratulations if there has been success and then ask about the second dose. We have our pictures taken with our sleeves rolled up and grateful looks on our faces.

We monitor the progress--how many doses are expected to be delivered in our area and what the new plan is. We check our emails from our health provider and sit on hold, our phones pressed against our cheeks, waiting to talk to someone with the secret. 

Once again we are stressed.

Once again we are in a time of waiting. 

Once again we are invited to be patient, to assess what is possible and what is out of our control. 

While we wait, here are some words of wisdom:

        "...anything, any person, any situation is a word
        addressed to me by God."
                            Brother David Steindl-Rast

What is God saying to you during this specific time of waiting? Is God inviting you to trust? No, you will not be left behind. Yes, you will have your turn. Is God inviting you to listen to the worries and fears of others and to be a compassionate and loving presence? Is God inviting you to remember that we are part of something larger than ourselves; something larger than what we can control. Is God inviting us to honor the losses from the past, the grief we still hold, and to be gentle with ourselves? Is God inviting us to open to the gifts of each day and to remember as Martha Whitmore Hickman writes in her book of daily meditations, Healing After Loss, "At the bottom of the well, one can look up and see the sky." 

Perhaps God is inviting you to discover how waiting can be a spiritual practice.

Begin by breathing. Close your eyes lightly, not tightly. Take a deep cleansing breath and then gently breathe in and out, in and out, finding your own rhythm. Return to calm. 

An Invitation
How are you experiencing this latest time of waiting? I would love to know.