When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions (Plus)

by Sue Monk Kidd

If you want to be impressed, note how often God’s people seem to be waiting. Noah waits for the flood waters to recede; Daniel waits through the night in a den of lions; Sarah waits in her barrenness for a child; Jacob waits for Rebecca’s hand. The Israelites wait in Egypt, then wait forty more years in the desert. Later they wait seventy years in Babylonian captivity. Jonah waits in a fish’s belly; Mary waits; Simeon waits to see the Messiah; the apostles wait for Pentecost; Paul waits in prison. The Bible is rich with language urging us to wait. “For thee I wait all the day long” (Ps. 25:5).” My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning” (Ps. 130:6). “Wait continually for your God” (Hos. 12:6). “If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come” (Hab. 2:3). “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom. 8:25). I came to the parable Jesus told about the ten maidens waiting for the bridegroom. Five came prepared with extra lamp oil to wait through the night. The other five didn’t plan on having to wait, so they brought only the oil that was in their lamps. Naturally their lamps gave out. When they left to go buy more, the bridegroom showed up, and they missed him. I’d always thought that the point of the story was that we should be prepared. But in my reading after the retreat, it seemed to be just as much about waiting. Waiting through the dark night. The idea is that waiting precedes celebration. If you don’t show up prepared to ...