Learning to Wait

I’ve been taking classes at the diocese for the past few years trying to get my Master Catechist Certification, one class away and I was notified that all courses were stopped.  It appears that in an attempt to improve the training the diocese has decided to stop all learning.  This halt will implement new requirements, courses, and teachers with the desire to prepare church leaders more adapt to teach in today’s day and age.  Obviously, the timing couldn’t suck more because I was just one class away from completing my studies.  Now, I must wait until the reopening of the adult formation school to see what other requirements I will need to fulfill in order to complete my certification.  Though, I know that the diocese is trying to better prepare leaders to better form our church it's still quite disappointing to put a halt to my studies. 

I feel like I am in a period of waiting.  I am waiting to find employment and now to complete this certification which I had planned would happen in July.  Sometimes, periods of waiting can be challenging because there’s certain fears that come to disturb one’s peace.  Yet, this is the first time that I can honestly say that I have peace.  Though, I don’t have the things that I want nor control over when I will have them – God has shown me that I can have peace during periods of waiting.  I remember when I was a child, I used to accompany mom everywhere.  We didn’t have a car so most of the time if we weren’t walking, we would be taking the bus.  Waiting for the bus was torture, I used to wait with so much anger while my mom cheerfully sat at the bus stop.  I didn’t understand how she could keep her calm when it had been forty minutes and still no signs of the bus.  While my mind would be full of negative thoughts hers was filled with harmony.  She knew the bus would come and had set a certain amount of time for travel.  I on the other hand wanted the bus to be at the bus stop the moment I made it to the bench mostly because I didn’t want people who knew me to see me sitting at the stop with mom.

I think sometimes in periods of waiting a reason we lose our peace is precisely because we are too concerned with what others will think.  I lost my job and it’s taking too long for me to find another what will people think?  The classes have stopped and I can’t finish the program after almost three years of study what will people think?  In reality- it’s not what others will think that creates havoc, but what we think that does the damage.  In this period of waiting I have come to realize that how we wait is important.  The Apostle Paul, said it best when he said that he knew what it was to have and what it was to want and he understood that he must to content in both.  God is always working in us – even in periods when not much seems to be happening.  I like the imagery of the grape vines how during the dormant season, when to the eye nothing seems to be happening all this energy (behind the scenes) is taking place so that when it’s time to bloom everything will be set in place.  Waiting periods are important because they teach us to wait on the Lord and when one is waiting on the Lord no time is wasted.