Don't misread the 'holding pattern'

When you are a passenger on board a commercial airplane flight, you know that the pilots and the ground crew have your safety as their top priority. If you find your plane is in a holding pattern, you know it is for your protection, that the crew are waiting until the airspace is free for you to land safely. You don’t worry that the air tower has forgotten about you, or that you will run out of fuel before landing, or that there is no runway below, because you trust the crew cares enough to get the plane down safely. They are in charge because they have the skills to accomplish the tasks at hand.

I think this analogy can relate to our journey in life, and our relationship with God.

As a lifelong student of Christian Science, I strive to trust that I will always be safely guided by God. A Bible character whom I admire, and who also trusted his life to God, was Joseph. He showed such love and commitment to God throughout his entire lifetime. He was loyal and faithful throughout each trying circumstance. And he encountered a lot! He was betrayed in almost every primary human relationship he had. His response to these hardships? Through each trouble, he rose higher in his understanding of God’s protection, and as his thought rose, so did his circumstances improve, until he was able to impart good toward thousands of people, not just his family, neighbors, and friends. He rose from a shepherd boy, to the head of Potiphar’s household, to governor of Egypt, next in line to Pharaoh.

One episode in particular in Joseph’s life that must have required unswerving faith in his purpose and usefulness was his time in prison. A forgotten promise by a fellow prisoner (see Genesis 40:23 ), may have resulted in his being kept in prison for an additional two years. On face value it would be easy to understand why Joseph could feel resentful toward the one who forgot the promise, toward God for not “helping him” to be freed, and toward everyone and everything in life because it was yet another example of things going wrong. But he trusted his usefulness to God and stayed trusting, doing good, right where he was. It’s likely that any time alone in prison also helped prepare him to do great things later on.

A lot of the characters in the most well-known Bible stories led quiet and unimpressive lives by the world’s standards prior to going forward with major tasks. They, too, were being prepared for the immense work ahead. For example, Moses tended sheep (see Exodus 3) and Jesus was a carpenter (see Mark 6:3 ).

Sometimes moments in our lives can feel as though we have been forgotten or forsaken by God. We can feel a sense of separation and as though nothing productive is happening. Often we can spend months or even years praying or studying about God, trying to improve our circumstances, without seeing the exact results we’d outlined or anticipated. This doesn’t mean that nothing is happening, though. God is always “happening,” always actively creating and maintaining His creation, and as His reflection, we are always “happening,” too—even if it feels as if some circumstance has caused us to become separated from God’s loving protection.

Sometimes what feels like a pause in our human existence gives us time to prepare for the full-on productivity of God’s unfoldment for us, new vistas that are on the horizon. Or perhaps, as with the plane in the holding pattern, we can listen, pray, and patiently wait as a way is being prepared for our “safe landing.”

In the case of Joseph’s time in prison, he no doubt was gaining the needed spiritual understanding necessary to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, and also gaining the humility and courage to face Pharaoh with his interpretation.

I sometimes felt imprisoned by my situation. I often thought of Joseph and his example of grace.

An example of feeling I was in a holding pattern in my own life was when my younger son was completing his final year at school. By then, I had been working in various jobs that I hadn’t enjoyed for a few years. I had moved to a certain area for schooling opportunities for my children, and my plan was to move again as soon as their schooling was completed. So, I felt I was just biding my time. Despite always being employed, I had not found fulfilling work opportunities, although all jobs had promised long-term growth.

I sometimes felt imprisoned by my situation. I often thought of Joseph and his example of grace. After my son finished school and left home, I found I had the perfect opportunity to move and start work in a useful career—to find something more fulfilling. But nothing came to mind.

I turned to God in prayer, and I remember working with these lines from the Christian Science Hymnal:

I wanted to be placed where I could be most useful, doing God's work, so I put self out of thought. I let go of human outlining based on my present qualifications and work history and focused on listening to God’s direction.

Two things happened. A relative suggested I move in with her temporarily. Her town was somewhat close, but an entirely new community and different lifestyle. Soon the idea came to me that I might work in a residential care home for Christian Scientists in a city that is a long drive away from where I had moved to.

I contacted the facility and within a week began giving light care and assistance to the residents as well as spiritual encouragement. The shifts I had been given were compatible with my travel restrictions. I worked night shifts and wasn’t travelling three hours in any one day.

Looking back, I see the work I had been doing while my children were attending school had been my holding pattern. And yet it had been a perfect opportunity to grow metaphysically, while at the same time allowing me to provide a loving home for my sons until they were ready to leave. I grew in patience, gained a clearer understanding of man’s honesty, learned how to better release resentment and self-condemnation, and gained a greater overall trust in God.

Mary Baker Eddy, in her main work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, states that God had been “graciously preparing” her (p. 107 ). It certainly felt like God had been graciously preparing me for this particular work opportunity. I stayed at my job until led by God to move on to other work, and have found my sense of fulfillment growing daily.

I am eternally grateful for the moments of obvious activity of God in our lives, but also for the less obvious moments of divine activity. In the Bible, it says: “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them” (Isaiah 42:16 ). This is absolutely true.