Hope When Stuck In the In-Between

“Our patience will achieve more than our force.”

—Edmund Burke

There are an astounding amount of opportunities for learning patience, and each time we hurry on in life God will patiently bring us back, infuriatingly for us it seems. Being stuck in the in-between is not only no fun, it’s also humbling. We want to have moved on already. But God knows we still have work to do.

There are pragmatic things that must be done, but then there is patience that must be learned, which is a thing never more basic. It is God’s nature to want to grow us in patience; our Lord will never be satisfied that we are patient enough.

There is always more patience to be learned, more opportunities to experience stillness in, and many moments we wish to covet that we must let go of.

But still, being stuck in the in-between is excruciating; but only when we are without patience.

Deflecting Our Focus

It may seem rudimentary, but deflecting our focus from ourselves onto other things we can control just makes raw sense.

We might as well get adjusted to the place we’re at rather than moaning about where we think we should be or worrying about what the future place is to look like. When we get too far ahead of ourselves we serve neither the present nor the future. And who is to say when we arrive at the future we won’t bemoan that, also?

Deflecting our focus means we drop our interest in the aspirational just enough to execute today’s tasks with caring aplomb. Such a strategy sets us up as patiently diligent. Such a strategy does require faith. There is wisdom in deflecting our focus onto the tasks like this and onto others we may help.

Knowing What We Truly Want

Being careful to name what it is we are truly headed for we should often check and recheck both our motives and aspirations. Do they still hold? Are they still relevant? Does the passion remain?

Knowing what we truly want is vital in remaining where we have been called, when we have arrived there. Whilst we are stuck in the in-between period we have copious opportunities to verify what we really want. Serious second thoughts at the landing place would be highly regrettable.

Patience is a thing that aids this process, for when we are patient we have more vision for wisdom, and we are more likely to listen to the voice of God that speaks through our lives. We are more likely to discern our sustaining passion.

Patience seems hard until we grasp that life is not really about us. When we understand life requires a patient objective we finally ‘get’ this existence. Patience is peace, the makings of joy, and it becomes manifest when we commit to acting in love.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.