Waiting for Hope

"Waiting with hope is very difficult, but true patience is expressed when we must even wait for hope.  I will have reached the point of greatest strength once I have learned to wait for hope." 

George Matheson

The difference between "mindfulness" and "Christian mindfulness" is practicing the presence of God.  In Christian mindfulness, we seek to remember God's presence moment by moment as we pay attention to one thing at a time.  

In the back of my mind on this Serene Sunday is disappointment, highlighted by the suicide of Robin Williams and the racial disturbances in St. Louis County.  It's the personal disappointment of prayers for my children's mental health that have been going on multiple times a day for 30 years.  And it's disappointment that so much racial hatred still exists.  I spent the first 10 years of my career in rural Mississippi observing it, and I spent the last year dealing with people in St. Louis County who said very racist things and then denied that they were racist. 

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick," Proverbs says. So this day I am going to realize that I can't possibly cure the mental health of my kids or solve racial issues in St. Louis County. I am going to spend my day waiting for hope. Trying to walk mindfully with the Lord on today's agenda:  a long walk in the forest to visit eagles nesting on the river, a trip to a giant book store, "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss"  (the Christmas Story family goes on vacation ... it's on YouTube and it's one of my favorite movies).  I pray as I walk conscious of the Lord that his hope will seep back into my soul.