Waiting Part 1

October 27, 2026

Welcome to this week’s Daily Reflections on the subject of waiting.

As I write this reflection, I am in a waiting room. I find myself in waiting rooms more often these days. Just being in a particular age bracket seems to bring appointments with various doctors who specialize in a different part of our body. There are a lot of body parts, so there are a lot of appointments.

I notice the people waiting alongside me today. An older lady is reading a devotional book that appears to be Our Daily Bread. She has a cane, and her feet are very swollen. She reads intently.

A younger lady sits near her, quietly knitting with green metallic needles. I imagine she may be her daughter.

A man sits with his legs crossed, staring into space, while his wife sits beside him on her phone.

A mother and daughter share a blanket. Their heads are tilted back, and they look as though they are trying to nap.

A man works on his laptop, listening attentively for his name to be called.

A lady sits in the corner wearing sunglasses. Her head rests against the wall, and her arms are crossed in front of her.

There are others of us waiters who sit along the hallway.

And then there is me... noticing them.

All of us who wait are in the same boat. Things in life do not always come on demand for any of us, so we must wait for them. Things are not always plentiful, so we line up to receive them, hoping the supply lasts. People cannot always see us whenever we need them, so we wait for a convenient time or an appointment.

We wait for buses, taxis, telephone calls, and even garbage pickup. Just think of all the time in our lives we spend waiting—and all the things we do while we wait. What are those things, and what might they reveal about who we are?

It seems that we all wait in our own way, just as we each have a unique way of doing life itself. Like laughing, talking, studying, dancing, walking, eating, or running, waiting has its own personal style.

Distinctive styles of waiting are interesting to me because they show how we each handle pauses and delays in our regular activity. Waiting leaves us with a space we must fill. How each person fills that space makes me curious. It is like life itself: How do we choose to fill the days of our lives?

There seems to be a connection between how we wait and how we do life. It seems that how we do life is shaped by our worldview, temperament, and motivations, including our fears, desires, and beliefs. The Enneagram’s ego-type structure helps us recognize these patterns. Our Soul Type also speaks to how we approach life, inviting us to bring our soul’s qualities into even the ordinary experience of waiting. And so as with life, our waiting is shaped by our worldview, temperament, motivations, fears, desires and beliefs.

Since I learned that impatience is caused by the unchecked ego, I have been more tolerant of the time I have to spend waiting. Waiting can be filled with all sorts of wonderful thoughts, activities and even fantasies. We can fill our waiting time with all that our soul wants to embrace.

My name was just called. So much for anonymity, even in the days of supposed medical confidentiality. ... everyone in waiting rooms across the country knows the name of the person who is "next" and what that person looks like. My wait is over for now. As I walk toward the door to see the doctor, I reflect on the interesting fact that I wait in many of the same ways that I live. It strikes me today more than most days, that waiting doesn’t have to be a time when our life is on hold until our name is called.

This week, we will reflect on waiting.

Spiritual Practice

Notice what you tend to do while waiting. Consider how it may be connected to the ways you fill your life. Then allow yourself a moment to be present without needing to fill it. What happens? 

Inquiry

Is waiting something you do consciously?

Prayer

Dear God, I pray to be more conscious of my waiting time, whether I am in this waiting room or in the waiting room of life.

Amen