A Season for Waiting

Personanlly I love this chilly and darker time of year. It helps me to slow down, let go of my busyness and start of focus on the meaning and value of waiting in the dark. Yes, waiting for the return of the light that continues to faithfully reappear in it’s own time. I continue to be witness to this life-giving cycle as I just watch nature out my front picture window, and I see it clearly as I work with couples that come to counseling out of a sense of powerlessness when darkness desends on their relationship, always in some form that leaves each person feeling alone, betrayed or somehow helpfless to fix a painful situation.

The work of couplehood can be a bit like Advent, waiting and looking for meaning in the darkness with a belief and hope that there is value in a time of darkness and that restoration is possible. So much can be learned and revealed when we can wait, ponder and take the time to reflect on the meaning and potential in a darker colder season. By now most of us have learned that we can’t avoid the darkness, whether it’s seasonal or relational. It’s all part of the cycle….actually a life-giving and growth producing cycle. Perhaps part of the secret we all need to learn from nature as well as our spiritual traditions, is how to wait and seek the messages in the dark before we jump too quickly to escape an envirnoment ripe for change and new life.