My pastor gave an interesting sermon this past Sunday part of which had to do with waiting. Somehow it tied in with the readings and he said when you stop to think about it most of our life is about waiting. You're waiting for a show to begin, for Mass to start, for work to let out, for someone to come out of the restroom, for your friend. In a way it's like being stuck in traffic, much of your life is consumed by it. You may be waiting for small things or for big things, waiting for something to happen even if you don't know what it is. Sometimes what we're waiting for takes a long time in coming or it never comes at all (success, true romance, justice). People who voted for McCain may have to wait four years or even eight. We're waiting for a pro-life culture, we're waiting for social equality, we're waiting for world peace, we're waiting for this and we're waiting for that.
The theme song to Mahogany asks "do you know where you're going to?" The drifter in Two Moon Junction says "I don't know where I'm going but I'm in a hurry to get there." Some of us wait all our lives. "I can feel it coming in the air tonight. I've been waiting for this moment all my life, oh lord!" but what's Phil Collins waiting for? It's like waiting gives Life its meaning, after all we are waiting for something and this gives us a kind of goal, a destination, a framework of anticipation. Then again some of us just scrap through our day not thinking of the Bigger Questions.
Right now I'm just waiting for some of my blogging friends to get home from work. Later.
I suppose waiting is indeed a fact of life, maybe nobody really wants to dwell on it because it can be depressing to think about it. Like why not enjoy the here and now, and take Life as it comes, when it comes? But then again, there are times when looking to the future and hoping for better times makes Life bearable.
ReplyDeleteA day at a time is my philosophy. You once said every day is a gift from God, hard to believe at times when you have that bad day but it's a good way to look at things.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of that recent song, I think its by John Mayer, "Waiting on the World to Change". I dunno, I think it's a pie in the sky thing to wait for, we could wait forever for the whole world to change, and it's one of those things that never will change.
ReplyDeleteSure it's ok to live for today but I think most of us are waiters, we might be waiting for different things but we're still waiting for something. The John Mayer thing, yeah I agree it's too grandiose but take the cancer thing, I think we're due for a cure don't you? Some of us are waiting for our jobs to get better and many times they never do. Sometimes we're waiting for an explanation, there's a riddle or two in my own life I'd like to figure out. Waiting is forward-looking, I live for the day but can't help peeking around the corner.
ReplyDeletePeeking in moderation should be okay, right?
ReplyDeleteYou know I think we tapped into something here. People want to know what's around the bend and that's where your John Edwards and your Sylvia Brownes come into play. It's easy enough to say one day at a time but I want to see next week's schedule, I wanna know my days off so I can plan things and you know actually have a life or at least I want one.
ReplyDeleteA general question posed to my readership - you don't have that sense of waiting for something? It's all good? I kind of blogged about this with striking a chord in mind, I like to think of myself as an essayist rather than a straight political blogger so is it just the poetry in my head or are most of us waiting for something?
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