This past weekend I led a retreat in Hindman, Kentucky. It was a special place, a wonderful group of people, and a restorative time. But returning home left something to be desired. After boarding our plane and preparing to take off, we were told that we were being held on the runway because of bad weather in the city of my connecting flight. Thirty minutes passed, then another announcement was made: we could use our cell phones since we would be waiting for another hour. After that hour was over, we were instructed to disembark because it would be at least another hour, and we should check with the agent about connecting flights.

I could tell that the 50 plus passengers were not happy as they lined up behind the desk where only one agent was making alternative arrangements. I felt my own impatience mounting with every passing minute. Where were other agents? Why was this one taking so long? Didn’t they know I had to be back in NYC? By the time I got to the desk I was told that I wouldn’t be able to make any connecting flights, that I needed to stay in a hotel – at my own expense, since bad weather wasn’t the airline’s fault. As I sighed with impatience, I remembered the story my friends had told me of being on a delayed flight with a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Dressed in long flowing robes, he sat calmly fingering his prayer beads. He had remarked: ‘This is an opportunity to practice being patient.’

In the spiritual traditions of the world, patience is an important element. But in our Western culture, patience isn’t highly respected. We use texting and e-mail rather than snail mail, we go for fast foods, we often say words like ‘get on with it’ or ‘so what’s the point?’ We don’t want to be kept waiting. Yet we spend endless amounts of time waiting for appointments, waiting in lines, being stuck in traffic. Perhaps we could learn to use those times constructively. Rather than thinking about what we should be doing during this time, we could think about what we are doing at this moment and who is near us.

As I waited for an hour for the hotel courtesy bus to pick me up, I started a conversation with two men who were also impatiently waiting with me. They were veterinarian surgeons from South Africa and Northern Ireland who were delayed by a day from returning to their homes. As we talked, I learned that they do complicated surgeries on horses. We ended up having an interesting discussion about our lives.

As I boarded my flight early the next morning and watched with fear as the wind and rain pounded on the plane, I wondered if there would be more delays. But I decided that I needed to make patience part of my spiritual journey and to accept that I am not in control. Edward Hays wrote in his book Pray All Ways: ‘Patience is vigilant waiting, a waiting that is pregnant with dreams, hopes, and with peace. Such a waiting is not resignation. Patience is loving and dynamic surrender. Such patient waiting can be a consciousness that we are not in control. Patience is a sign that our needs  must be balanced with the needs and lives of others.’ Yes, how true!

Beloved God, you teach us so many lessons. But we are slow learners. And we are truly impatient people. Help us to learn that patience can be pregnant with dreams, hopes, and peace. May we be givers of patience and peace – to ourselves and to others. Amen.

Joy Carol

www.joycarol.com