@bethvogt
A long-time wish came true for me two weeks ago.
My family transformed the back corner of our yard into a hummingbird garden for me.
It’s the barest beginnings of what will one day be a glorious garden with a ceramic bird birth, complete with a solar powered water fountain, two feeders, and yes, the proper plants and flowers to attract a multitude of hummingbirds. So far, I’ve seen butterflies – those are nice – and a few pudgy robins searching the well-watered ground for worms.
And now I wait for the hummingbirds to arrive.
My vigil at the breakfast nook windows, watching for tiny fleet-winged birds to alight on the feeders, reminds me that waiting is an odd mixture of emotions.
- Anticipation – looking ahead, hoping that what we want will happen soon.
- Acceptance – shifting our expectations from what we hope for to accommodating reality without letting go of our dreams, our longings.
- Acquiescence – realizing that what we’re waiting for – who we’re waiting for – isn’t arriving today. Or tomorrow. Understanding that our waiting will last longer, even as we refuse to abandon hope.
Again and again, I’m learning I have no control over the timing of the when and how of what I’m waiting for, whether it’s how quickly flowers grow and bloom, or when hummingbirds find my new garden, or when my efforts to achieve a dream produce fruit – if they ever do.
Effort does not guarantee success – unless you count success as the knowledge that you gave your best effort to something, be it a garden or a college class or a book project or a relationship.
I’ve heard it said that all I can do as a writer is write the best book I can. And in this time of COVID-19, when Amazon declares books not-essential, and the publishing industry – the industry I work for – struggles to find its footing, I’m given the chance to learn this truth one more time.
I write the best books I can … and let the rest be.
The hummingbird garden is planted … and once again, I wait.
I do what I can and learn to be content in the waiting. The cycle of Anticipation-Acceptance-Acquiescence continues in each of our lives in so many different ways, every single day.
Maybe it’s not so much that we get through the waiting as it is how we grow through the waiting.
Anticipation. Acceptance. Acquiescence. All three stages of waiting require hope – the choice to believe that life is good in the waiting.
Choosing to Believe that Life is Good When We're Waiting https://bit.ly/3bMvT8b #hope #expectations Click To Tweet 'Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.' Quote by Emanual Cleaver. https://bit.ly/3bMvT8b #hope #quotes Click To Tweet
Comments 7
Waiting for the monsters
coming in the night;
drink another Fosters,
that’ll make it right!
Waiting for the puking,
waiting out the pain,
waiting for what will bring
the end of everything.
Waiting for the answer
that will never come;
waiting now while cancer
has its demon-fun,
but it shouldn’t hold its breath
if it’s waiting for my death.
Author
Andrew, my friend: You understand waiting in a way none of us can. And yet I know you haven’t given up hope even as you grapple with pain I cannot understand. I also know you offer hope to so many others — and that is a reminder to me to do the same. Praying for you.
Beth, thanks. The only thing I can rightly say now is that the world is, perhaps for the first time in my life, getting my very best, because nothing else is now possible.
Thanks for the beautiful reminder. Reminds my of the words to the hymnal The Solid Rock…My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.
Author
Abi: Such a good reminder to consider what our hope is settled on. There will always be times of waiting … and we always need hope.
Timely post. I’m so glad your hummingbird garden is coming into being, and it starts with disturbed dirt, a few seeds, water, sun, and expectation. I love that principle. The start may not look auspicious, but the results are guaranteed. I’m glad it was in your and it will be MANY who enjoy.
Author
Yes, Dee, the beginning includes expectation, which is a wonderful emotion.