"Each waiting hour"

BEATRICE LILIAS MARGARET INGLIS

To many the hours of waiting seem long, wearisome periods of inactivity, mere waste of time, when every one seems rushing on towards some achievement, some goal or object, that appears necessary to still further advancement. And when one is called upon simply to wait and let things go rushing by, the thought may come: Why? What a waste of time and opportunity! Why should this be expected of me? It seems at times the hardest thing possible just to wait.

But surely in the infinite plan of divine Love there can be no waste of time. In God's plan there can be neither a waste of anything nor a lack of anything. In that beautiful hymn by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy (Poems, p. 4), we find the line, "O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour." Here, then, is the thought to replace the murmuring and agitation that creep in when we are off guard for a moment. Every waiting hour is owned by divine Life! Therefore, each little pause is not, cannot be, irksome; it is a gift rather, given to us by our heavenly Father, which we are to use and to profit by.

On page 130 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says, "Know ye not that he who exercises the largest charity, and waits on God, renews his strength, and is exalted?" Thus, the waiting time is not meant to be a period of inactivity, but one in which to renew our strength, to be used as a quiet time of preparation and mental work to fit us for higher achievements in our progress towards the attaining of the true understanding of the perfect, ideal man.

When a ship reaches port at the end of a long voyage, she is not simply left abandoned in the quiet harbor; for this would mean, perhaps, that the wood in her might rot and her engines rust, and thus she would be rendered unseaworthy. No! During this time she is refitted to make another voyage. No stagnation is allowed, but a busy round of work begins, every part found faulty during the last voyage being replaced by a new part; all dirt is cleared away; and she receives fresh stores and everything else that is needed to insure a safe voyage. And it is through the work done during this period of waiting that she is rendered able to weather the storms, and is put into such fit condition that every one on board voyages in safety and comfort.

And so we, too, must realize the importance of our times of waiting; for it is only by careful work in clearing our mentality of all impurities, carefully testing each thought and laying up a good store of spiritual ideas gleaned from the study of the Bible and the writings by our beloved Leader, that we shall find ourselves able to ride safely through the storms of error that may seek to impede our journey from sense to Soul. Nor shall we be called upon to wait one moment longer than is necessary to fulfill the purpose of divine Love in unfolding some further proof of His care, or in fitting us to make higher demonstrations of His infinite power. "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him."

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