What does one say when they are living in a state of limbo?
Today one of my twins is in that state for a totally different reason – he believes wholeheartedly that one of his teeth is gonna fall out. He came to me this morning saying he bonked his head on his brother and his tooth feels loose. It looks fine to me, but I haven’t confirmed wobbling yet.
So, all the way to school, he and his brothers were chatting about all the possibilities.
“Your tooth could come sailing out if you eat an apple.”
“Your tooth might bleed and bleed and bleed as it comes out. It’ll be disgusting!”
“Your tooth might be just fine.” (That was me)
“Or it could break off during class and you sneeze and swallow it!”
So many scenarios! In the end, my son was looking a little distraught by all the possibilities so I told him to try and put it aside for awhile. I asked him to be patient. All the while knowing that much like his tooth, there are things that all of us can’t stop thinking about today.
Today my prayer is Patient Trust by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ:
“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.”
I mean, isn’t that exactly what we need today?
Patience.
Trust.
Prayer.
