The Non-Existent Waiting Room

Days until Chicago: 60

"For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation." -Rainer Maria Rilke

I'm a shameless Rilke fan and now many of you can see why. How brilliant is that quote? It's brilliant because deep in our bones we know it to be true. What matters in the end won't be how many hours we spent at our job, or how bad we felt when an ad about child starvation came on television; God will ask us if we loved people well. And if what ultimately matters is love, and we aren't actively finding opportunities to love our neighbors and enemies, then what are we doing? I would argue, whatever it is, it's not what Jesus says leads to the life that is truly life.

 

Originally when I read this quote, I began to imagine what I'm doing now -working as a youth pastor- as preparation for the love I will ultimately do through service in England. This was an insightful and comforting thought, until I realized I was treating this time like a useless afternoon spent in a waiting room. As if the opportunities to love people happen in 3 months and until then I'm stuck busying myself with old magazines and crossword puzzles. But I don't think life is a waiting room between big events. Meaningful moments that make up a life may -in fact- be composed of little-everyday-decisions. If I flip this quote on it's head and say love is in the preparation itself, then loving people becomes an opportunity present in every moment, ready-or-not! I mean... this is my life; It began when I was born, it will end when I die, and there is no proverbial waiting room in between. The waiting room doesn't exist!
 
Rambling aside... what I'm thinking about now is: how can I love someone here and now? I believe God gives us endless choices everyday -to be joyful or cynical, kind or careless, forgiving or bitter, loving or apathetic- and trusts us to choose as we wish. But if you are waiting to choose joy, kindness, forgiveness, and love for Sunday mornings, or mission trips, or whatever time it is you're especially conscious of these things, you miss thousands of opportunities. And they don't have to be grand gestures; Mother Theresa said "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." I pose this to you, what will you do this afternoon to love someone in the very places you will spend your time today?
 
What will I do this afternoon?? I will...
Get someone coffee
Ask someone how they're doing with sincere interest
Be joyful doing mundane tasks
Let cars merge ahead of me
Make my mom dinner tonight, and maybe even do the dishes!
 
Grace and Peace,
Leigh