a hand in our becoming
Waiting with hope is the foundation for new habits and new discipleship. Imagine big, work on the small. What's the hope your holding onto today? What's the small step you can take to achieve it?
Psalm 131:3 Wait in Holy Being, o Israel, from now till forever.
This short psalm began by pulling us away from ruminating on things beyond our power; it zoomed us down into the moment, grounding us in embodied experience. But now, the third and final verse draws us outward again, into “forever.”
Once we have grounded ourselves in the now, we can look ahead without growing overwhelmed; when we have a grasp on our embodied finitude, we can reflect on our place in infinity.
Most crucially for the psalmist, we do all these things — mindful focus on what’s around us, reflecting on “forever” — in God: Divinity pervades both eternity’s vastness and the most mundane of moments.
“Wait (or, alternatively, “Hope”) in Holy Being,” the psalmist exhorts their people. And while we hear “wait” and may think of settling down passively for God to do all the work, waiting in hopeful expectation doesn’t have to be passive.
It’s about balance — working and resting; imagining big and focusing on the small.
It's the foundation for new habits and new discipleship. Imagine big, work on the small. What's the hope your holding onto today? What's the small step you can take to achieve it?
—Avery Arden