November 19, 2010 - Active Waiting My notes on the Daily Reflection by Henri Nouwen

This will be my first weekend as on-call Chaplain at a new hospital.  Much of Tomorrow and tomorrow night will be spent waiting - waiting for the pager to sound. This will mean someone is in deep need.  A patient facing a dark night of the soul before surgery.  Grieving family members who was losing a loved one, or the lonely who can't sleep.

Tomorrow starts my first shift as resident overnight chaplain in two years.  It's a new hospital.  1100 beds compared to the 450 in my previous posting.  And this is the Medical Center where I am employed in my "day job" as an IT person.

Hoping tomorrow's waiting will be full of blessing in some way for both me and for those spending their weekend in the Medical Center.

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Active Waiting

Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God's footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful - waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes. BEN

---

Share your thoughts on this reflection.

These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Join our online book discussion of Reaching Out. Starts November 22nd.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

Posted via email from drben54's posterous