Watching and waiting

thought-for-sundayFrom the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters, cp

Sunday, 10th December 2017

      

          

 

                                                                                                    

Prayer is like watching for the
Kingfisher. All you can do is
Be where he is likely to appear, and wait.
Often nothing much happens;
There is space, silence and
Expectancy.
No visible signs, only the
Knowledge that he’s been there
And may come again.
Seeing or not seeing cease to matter, you have been prepared
But sometimes, when you’ve almost Stopped expecting it,                                                                 
A flash of brightness gives encouragement. (Ann Lewin)

 

Some time back I was sitting with a couple I’ve known very well for a very long time. We were chatting and reminiscing about our lives when the husband said, “Well, I must say I’m very content with the life I’ve had!” His wife immediately intervened and said, “Indeed you’re not one bit content! You’re always wanting more!” I had immediate sympathy for the poor man shot down when he was just taking off. But, on reflection, I thought how lacking we, the unmarried, are in not having someone loving enough and caring enough to bring us down to earth when we go off on flights of fancy. (Though living in community also helps in keeping you from getting notions about yourself!) At the same time, what the wife said that day struck a chord with me because I’ve noticed even in the very ordinary thing of taking photos of birds or animals and especially recently of the Kingfisher, no matter how good the photos are, I’m still not satisfied. I want more and better ones, always thinking there’s a real masterpiece around the corner!

 

And I think, if we look into our hearts, we’ll find something of that same ache there. We want more of all that’s good and beautiful but not of what’s difficult or ugly. And it’s much deeper even than that. We have an aching restlessness that is really a yearning for our beautiful God, though we don’t always recognise it as such. We have expectations and an essential loneliness that no wife or husband or children or friends can fill. And we must beware of putting such impossible expectations on them. Watching for the Kingfisher reminds me of all this. It is like our Advent waiting and watching for the coming of the Lord at Christmas and indeed every day in the Eucharist.