“By waiting and by calm you shall be saved,
in quiet and in trust shall be your strength.”
-Isaiah 13:15
This is the time of year when we are forever waiting for the end of winter and the beginning of warmer weather. Waiting is a consistent part of our human condition. We are always hoping for something better, something different. We are rarely satisfied, or satisfied enough, with the here and now.
Alcoholics are particularly impatient. We want our recovery to speed ahead, to be somewhere else where we don’t have to feel the discomfort of early sobriety. To be at a place where amends are made and we no longer have to feel the guilt and shame of the damage we have done to others.
A different type of miraculous waiting comes to those who stay in the program for many years and get to see the incredible changes in people who stay sober. This is a wonderful gift of waiting. Seeing lives changed, families reconnected, new careers and opportunities for people who had battered their lives with drinking and self-will. These are real gifts.
These changes that come from long periods of time are worth it. As I await another spring, let me never lose hope of God’s higher purpose in our waiting. More will be revealed.
Today’s Prayer
God, today I am tired of waiting. I want change to happen, and I want it to happen right now. Please give me the strength to live in this moment and to be patient with myself.