Waiting

As I walked today, I came upon these two chairs. They were lined up perfectly, pillows in place. As the sun was coming up, it appeared to me as if they were just waiting for two people to come and pause for a while. I could picture a warm conversation shared over coffee between two old friends. Or perhaps a parent and child, eating bowls of cereal between giggles. In my mind I could easily imagine an elderly couple, sitting in a comfortable silence that speaks volumes between their hearts. Yes, those chairs truly seemed to be waiting.

At times it seems that we spend a large amount of our lives waiting. Like these chairs, everything is ready. We have done all we can. We have set the table for life as we long for life to be. We have not only dreamed or wished; we have planned and worked. It is time, or it sure seems as if it should be time.

But the news doesn’t come. The job doesn’t materialize. The family does not begin. Issues regarding health change the timing of life. Events beyond our control disrupt the larger world, and the dominos fall all the way into our little world. Our chairs are in place, pillows and all, yet they sit lonely and empty in their well appointed places while we wait.

Waiting. Voltaire writes that, “We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.” Much life happens while we wait for our plans to come to fruition and for our dreams to come true. We will surely miss too much if we think life only counts when our chairs are occupied just as we have imagined. Sometimes, it just takes longer. Sometimes, waiting is an invitation to reimagine our life. Sometimes, it is in the waiting that we find our true selves and our true lives. I think I’ll just keep walking as I wait. Who knows what I might discover along the way?

Peace.