W-A-I-T

Today Jaycee and Jack and I went to see MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM. A magical toy store. I won't download the whole thing, just one particular scene.

Molly Mahoney and Mr. Magorium, go out for a great day together. Molly plans all kinds of silly things: going into a mattress store and jumping on the beds, dancing in the park on top of bubble wrap (which I AM going to add to my list of things, God-willing, I'd like to do), and going into a clock store and changing all of the clocks to the same time. This is the moment that captured my attention. They change all the clocks to just before noon. Then they hide and "wait."

Molly: "37 seconds left, Great, now we wait,"
Magorium: "Nope, we breathe, we smile, we re-generate. An entire existence can happen in these 37 seconds."

What a perspective on waiting: not passive, but active. It's as if you don't wait for the event or moment to arrive, you remain busy and involved and mindful. When that "moment" comes that you thought you were waiting for, you are actually surprised by it. Because you hardly saw it coming, because you weren't focusing on it, but the task at hand. Interesting.

I don't think I've ever been able to do that. I am a busy and relatively-focused individual (despite my playful-ness or momentary flighty-ness). So I get antsy waiting during a "stall." That's exactly what I do. I focus on the thing I am waiting for, not the moment or the opportunity to catch my breath, or the activity in the present. It's the same feeling I get when I think about something being a process - I don't like things to take time, I don't like figuring out which exact step should come before the others - I like action, completion, moving on to the next thing. It's sad, but true. A reality of me, but also a weakness I am praying through.

This movie message is on the heels of the first message in our church's series called, THE WAITING ROOM. It was compelling for me! So compelling, because I know that I am in a waiting room right now. I know that there is "something" out there for me to put my hands and effort to, "someone" out there for me - you know, something bigger than me. It's happening right now. And right now. And I am sure I'm even doing something in "it" while I am "waiting" for "it." But I am focusing on getting to "it" that I am neglecting this very opportunity to re-generate, live, and breathe. I am forgetting the entire lifetime that can be lived while we take steps to the next thing.

I mean, think it through - are any of the events, phases, and notions in our lives isolated from the other? No. So we don't get to "it" apart from being in "this" or "that." Everything is a part of the whole. And therefore, it's an opportunity to breathe, live, regenerate.

Does this mean waiting, or life, for that matter, is easy? No. Does this mean we act without the end in mind? Not necessarily. It means we are active in thought, active in re-generating, active in relationship, active in integrity...and recognize the story that is being written from an entire perspective, not just the main events. Maybe, just maybe, the main event is a still, small quiet realization about waiting....