Waiting (06/07/2025)

This week, I have found myself having to wait numerous times for multiple reasons: clerks in stores to help me; a real person at the consumer help line; an Amazon package; a friend I was meeting for lunch; my daughter to call back; my husband to return from errands. I tell myself I am a patient person, but this week as I looked ahead at the celebration of Pentecost tomorrow, I questioned my patience and my trust. I thought of the apostles and Mary and numerous others who had followed Jesus praying in that upper room for the Spirit. And I wondered, honestly, how they did it.

They waited and prayed for a gift they didn’t understand at a time they weren’t guaranteed. I can only imagine the trust they had in Jesus’ promise, actually in Jesus himself, that they remained there praying for nine days. Did they have moments of doubt? Did they have times when they were so discouraged they considered giving up? Did they have to encourage one another to stay the course and await the moment their LORD’s promise would arrive?

During this final day before Pentecost, those of us who call ourselves His can consider the gift He has given to us and to His Church, the gift of the Spirit. And perhaps we can consider if we have bore fruit with that gift as the apostles did.

To whom have we brought Christ through the sharing of our faith? Whom have we invited to come to Christ and promised to accompany them on “the Way”? Whom have we ministered to in their need? Whom have we prayed for with faith? Did we have to wait to see the answer to our prayers? Were we patient and trusting or did we give up or get distracted? Lots to consider. I can tell you honestly, as I ponder these questions, I know I have improvements to make, beginning with my trust and with my openness to the Spirit.  And then there is patience.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the arrival of the Spirit at Pentecost, the birth of the Church, and the end of the Easter Season. Are we different than we were on Ash Wednesday? Are we different than we were on Easter morning? Are we open to the gift of the Spirit whom our Savior promised us for our spiritual journey in Him, with Him and through Him?  Let us consider these things as we await the dawn of tomorrow.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.