Friday, April 17, 2009

Waiting Patiently, Productively, and Expectantly...

What does that mean?

Marlene Bagnull notes in Writing His Answer that she received the message "I want you to learn to wait patiently, productively, and expectantly."

I love this Bible Study for Christian Writers that Marlene has created. If you haven't got your hands on one yet, I highly recommend it. Hubby got mine for me through Amazon about a year ago. I keep repeatedly going through it, each time something new resonates with me from her very wise teachings. Yesterday, it was this little line in Chapter Seven that struck a cord in me. And the cord still plays on.

Learning to wait Patiently, Productively, and Expectantly.

I'm still in awe at how those three fit together. I've always considered patience to be an act of quietness, stillness, listening, waiting. But now I wonder if God's type of patience that He wishes us to attain is something different. For production and expectation don't seem to belong with my original understanding of patiently waiting.

Could God's version of patience be an amalgamation of serving, worshiping, and listening for Him all rolled into one?

If it is, then interweaving patience with productivity and expectancy seems doable to me. If we center all on Him, then we are not stagnant while we patiently wait for His answer, but rather, actively seeking His answer by working and faithfully waiting while serving Him, worshipping Him (studying and further understanding His Word), and praising and praying quietly with Him as the center of all. It's complicated to me, and I'm still trying to sort it all out. But thought I'd share my current pondering.

I will be away on a Christian Women's Retreat until Sunday, so I won't be able to respond to comments until Monday, but I'm curious as to what "Waiting patiently, productively, and expectantly" to you means?

May God bless you and keep you safe and mindful of Him this weekend! And for those who are working on their word counts, I pray you'll be given ample time to devote to writing His answer.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

9 comments:

Terri Tiffany said...

Enjoy your time away this weekend! I have that book and love it!!

Katie Ganshert said...

What a great post. A lot to reflect on. You make me want to buy that devotional.

Jody Hedlund said...

Sounds like a great devotional. And your post is timely. Lately I've been struggling with waiting. I'm finding myself growing anxious to know contest results, agent response, critique feedback! Thanks for the encouragement. Have a great weekend!

Jessica Nelson said...

I once heard waiting referred to as serving (as in "waiting tables"). The comparison makes a lot of sense to me.
Good post Eileen.
You've just reminded me that I have that marriage book waiting to be read with hubby. I'm so bad at reading or studying any type of non-fiction. Thanks for sharing the stuff I'm missing. :-)

Georgiana Daniels said...

Thank you so much for sharing this--it's the exact thing that's been on my heart too :-)

Jeannie Campbell, LMFT said...

the book sounds great! i'm going to check that out. as for me, writing patiently is key. having another job and a child makes writing time slim. so i write as productively as i can during that time, knowing that if i'm deligent, then i'm doing the best i can with the time given. this is enough for me and i feel that i'm doing it for God's glory when i DO write, so all's well.

Cindy R. Wilson said...

Thank you so much for your post! Waiting patiently, productively, and expectantly--I love this. To me, waiting patiently in itself is hard enough. But the time can be spent to God's glory in continuing His purpose for us. That, for me, would be still serving Him and my family while continuing to write, which I know he has called me to do. And expectantly would be to walk in faith that I will see the predestined outcome of His will. How wonderful that no matter how I worry or how impatient I am, God is still faithful, therefore negating the need for worry and impatience in the first place. I am trying on a daily basis to realize this, so your post is so helpful to me. God Bless!

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Thanks Ladies for sharing here. I like that "waiting tables"/serving thought. That really does help me figure this out.

Waiting isn't a stagnant/nothing happens time, but rather a time of working toward something in anticipation of that something. Guess I can't be lazy anymore.

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic. Like most I have been struggle with waiting patiently and I to thought it meant to do nothing. I knew that I needed to keep busy, but being productive,patient and expectant is blowing my mind and really helping thanks. The anology God gave me is like a pregnant woman. Who is "expecting" she must wait 9 months she is "patient" because she knows the process takes time and she is "productive" because she preparing for the babies arrival. Thanks again Eileen