quote for today

lots of pre-christmas stuff. i'm actually "in the christmas spirit" this year...which probably means i'm gonna buy a lot of stuff and hang it on other living things that are green and then burn some wood and make gingerbread guys and burn them and carve some pumpkins around the tree and wear slippers and watch those TV shows that have the SPECIAL sign before them and spin around. man, i miss those days when erin and i would wait all week for that little spinny sign and then the claymation rudolph and frosty....man. but i digress. __________ Waiting for God Henri Nouwen "Waiting is not a very popular attitude. Waiting is not something that people think about with great sympathy. In fact, most people consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, 'Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait!' For many people, waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. And people do not like such a place. They want to get out of it by doing something. "In our particular historical situation, waiting is even more difficult because we are so fearful. One of the most pervasive emotions in the atmosphere around us is fear. People are afraid--afraid of inner feelings, afraid of other people, and also afraid of the future. Fearful people have a hard time waiting, because when we are afraid we want to get away from where we are. But if we cannot flee, we may fight instead. Many of our destructive acts come from the fear that something harmful will be done to us...Here are the roots of a 'first strike' approach to others. The more afraid we are the harder waiting becomes." --read the rest of the article