Meditation Monday

What Do We Do With Waiting? Breathe!

I have done a lot of waiting over the last few weeks. Waiting in traffic and at airports. Waiting for pain to subside. Waiting for the results of medical tests and for medical appointments. Waiting on hold to talk to an operator. It all seems such a waste of time in the midst of our busy schedules. Even a slow loading website can make us feel we are wasting time. And some of that waiting seems so crazy. Waiting in line for 24 hours to be the first person to get the latest iPhone, for example. Why do people do it?

Like most of us, I get impatient, anxious even angry at the time I waste when I unexpectedly have to wait. And it is a considerable amount of time. The average American spends at least 6 months of their lives waiting.

In our faith walk, waiting seems to have an entirely different flavor.

We wait in expectation and hope for the return of Christ. We wait for God to renew and restore us and all creation to the wholeness God intends for it. We wait for tomatoes to ripen and for peas to grow. For the leaves to change colour and the seasons to change. And with this waiting comes not anxiety and impatience but hope and longing. It’s not draining but exhilarating.

Yesterday I did a search on Biblegateway.com for the phrase Wait for the Lord. Wow, what a beautiful, reflective exercise. Wait for deliverance, for salvation, for mercy, for God’s faithful love. Many of course the psalms give the most references. Psalm  - wait for the Lord’s faithful love in Psalm 33:18; Psalm 130:7; and Psalm 147:11 immediately caught my attention, and as I repeated these words, I found the calmness of God settling on me. Then I came across one that stopped me in my tracks. “Nonetheless, the Lord is waiting to be merciful to you, and will rise up to show you compassion.” Isaiah 30:18 . God waits for us. As I reflected on this I realized that sometimes I am not willing to accept God’s mercy and compassion. God needs to wait for me to be receptive.

In the New Testament the focus seems to be more on waiting for Jesus to be revealed for the coming of life in its fullness. I was struck particularly by James 5:7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait for the coming of the Lord. Consider the farmer who waits patiently for the coming of rain in the fall and spring, looking forward to the precious fruit of the earth.

What suddenly struck me last week is that we can transform the impatience of mundane waiting into the joy of Godly waiting. All it takes is a little preparation and spiritual discipline.

This week I am reading Jennifer Tucker’s Breath as Prayer. It is a great reminder that breath prayers, which I am a strong advocate for, are at the perfect tool to fill those unexpected waiting moments and draw us into the presence of God. She suggests that “breathing is the bridge between the brain and the body, one of the few processes we can regulate both consciously and unconsciously.  Intentional breathing is usually done with slow deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. Not only good for our spirits but also for our bodies as these deep, slow breaths fill our lungs in a way that our normal shallow breaths don’t. Doing deep breathing exercises for 5-10 minutes 3-4 times a day increases our lung capacity and is highly recommended by many health professionals.

Tucker suggests that just as breath is a bridge between the brain and the body, prayer is a bridge from Christ’s heart to ours. Breathing and praying together can calm the brain, the body, the mind and the soul. Wow what a powerful practice. I really like that.

There are three breathing techniques in Breath as Prayer that Tucker describes (see page 35) but the one that I found most helpful for a “do while you wait” exercise is what she calls 4-7-8 (the relaxing breath) - Inhale slowly through the nose for a count of four; hold your breath for a count of seven; exhale completely through your mouth for a count of eight; repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths. It does take a little bit of practice so you probably want to experiment before you try it while waiting but it doesn’t take long to learn.

Tucker  suggests combining this with a scripture so for a good “breath prayer while waiting prayer I have a couple of suggestions:

Inhale

Wait for the Lord’s faithful love

Exhale

God waits to be merciful to us.

OR

Inhale

I wait for God’s promises

Exhale

My whole being waits for God.

Enjoy and let me know if it helps make those waiting times fly by and become more relaxing and calming for you.

Alternatively you might like to carry one of the breath cards I wrote a few years ago with you and read through the appropriate prayers while you wait in line.

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