The Spirituality of Waiting

I am not sure that at any other time in my life (except maybe when I was a fetus) have I had to wait like this. Sure, I've waited for things: trips to begin, trips to end, waited for Christmas, or a phone call, waited until a movie came out. But rarely, have I waited for such a major event without a particular deadline and without knowing how it would begin. Such is the frustration with waiting to have a baby.


We Christians should have a highly developed spirituality of waiting. After all, for liturgical Christians we have the season of advent where waiting is uplifted as a part of the spiritual journey. We wait for the second coming reminding ourselves of how Jesus came at Christmas. . .

Isn't it pretty central to Christian faith that there is the promise of Christ's return somewhere, somehow, at an unknown time?

It also seems pretty Christian that we haven't known what do do with this waiting either. After all, how many Christians sects have forcasted days when Christ would return only to find themselves having to scramble when it didn't happen?

So maybe this waiting stuff is built into our spirituality. Maybe it's part of being Christian but frankly I think we suck at it. Waiting for this baby to be born I can't seem to find spiritual guides, centers, mantras etc that coach me into a healthy place of waiting. I find myself at one part of the day very centered and willing to let the baby just decide when to come and go with it. I find myself meditating on being pregnant and and wanting to remember these feelings etc. Then, hours later I am desperate to have this baby. Desperate to figure out how to breast feed, desperate to get some time being a parent before my family comes, desperate to have a baby while the house still feels clean and there is food in the fridge. I am all over the place with waiting for this baby.