The French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil once noted: “We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them.” [1]
When I read those words, I think of an expectant mother waiting nine long months for her newborn baby to be born. Or a caterpillar awaiting its weeks-long metamorphosis. Or a Redwood’s decades-long maturation journey.
Precious gifts arrive, but they’re often surrounded by a hundred distractions along the way.
- Second opinions
- Cultural expectations
- Relational pressures
- Rising stress
- Faulty narratives
- Quick fix promises
As a result, our focus wanders and we end up seeing the distraction more than the offered gift.
But as theologian Douglas Christie suggests:
“What is being asked of us in times of wait is patient attention; a willingness to slow down, listen, and look; a willingness to let go of our expectations and accept possibility … a willingness to relinquish control and open ourselves to the mysterious unknown; and a willingness to see in a new way.”
- To see due dates less and development more
- To see the shed layers of change less and the parts being transformed more
- To see the slow work of growth less and the deep work of growth more
This of course invites:
- Less immediacy; more patient attention
- Less certainty; more possibility
- Less control; more mysterious unknown
- Less willfulness; more willingness
Perhaps the soul work of less, then, is about learning to see life less clearly, so we learn to see life with more vision.
Spiritual Director
Co-Founder & Content Director
cindy@joyover.com
-With Joy
Pause to Reflection
What parts of my life have I been able to uncover only by finding myself here?
What is the conversation I can have only by being in this situation?
Pause for Practice
1. Go for a walk. Take sunglasses. When you find a rest spot, take out your sunglasses and look around. See your surroundings with “a new set of eyes.” Pray about what stands out.
2. Ask a friend with glasses if you can try them on and take a look around. Whether clear or blurry, notice what you notice.
These two simple practices serve as a reminder that your way of seeing life is but one way. The ongoing practice of “new eyes” is in asking God to continuously give you discernment for the everyday unfoldings of your life.
“Ears that hear and eyes that see—the Lord has made them both.” —Proverbs 20:12, NIV
Pause for Prayer
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything, to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually—let them grow, let them shape themselves without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense, and incomplete.” [3]
Amen.
- [1] Waiting for God by Simone Weil.
- [2] Honest Advent by Scott Erickson.
- [3] The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien.
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P.S. Find delight in seeing yourself in a new way 😊.
