A Prayer for Waiting

Waiting is its own kind of work. It rarely gets counted as one.

I am still waiting.

Not because I've stopped hoping,
but because nothing has moved,
and I have run out of ways
to make the time pass usefully.

I've done the praying.
I've done the preparing.
I've done the quiet, unglamorous work
that no one sees.

And still — nothing.

Waiting has a way of turning into doubt
if it goes on long enough.
I feel that happening.
I don't want it to.

If I can't make this move faster,
help me not become bitter inside it.
If the answer is still far off,
keep me from mistaking delay for abandonment.

Give me something to hold that isn't a timeline.
Steady my hands in the meantime.
Let me tend what's in front of me
without resenting that it isn't the thing I asked for.

And when I'm tempted to force an ending
just to stop the waiting —
slow me down.

I am still here.
I am still asking.
That has to count for something.

Amen.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage."
— Psalm 27:14


You're welcome to sit with this as long as you need.