W.A.I.T.

I was at an AA meeting last night and a young woman with a handful of years shared the above acronym: w.a.i.t.  Why am I talking?  It really stopped me in my tracks.  It’s one I had never heard in all my years on this journey and I needed to hear it.  I know I talk more than I listen; to God and to everyone else too.  In the stillness are the answers to every thing.  In the stillness I will find the peace my soul desires and deserves.  In the stillness my heart finds rest.  Thank you, dear Jenny for the wisdom.

We never know when we will hear just what we need to hear.  But as long as we are filling the quiet spaces with chatter, either audible or in the mind only, God’s guidance will be muffled.  My life’s work, as a writer and workshop leader, make it way too easy for me “to talk and think” more than listen.  What I know to be true, however, is that the silence has the answers I need for my own life and for the direction I may be called upon to offer others, whether sponsees or readers, or listeners in a workshop.  What I know to say to any one is what is passed to me through the wisdom of the Universe.

Sitting here this morning and reflecting on this I am struck by how God reaches us.  I am struck by the mystery and the miracle of His reach.  Jenny, the young woman who changed my life last night, showed up at this particular AA meeting a few years ago, fresh out of treatment.  We sat next to each other and made a wonderful connection.  Amazingly, she had been given a copy of Each Day A New Beginning in treatment and then found out she was sitting next to the author: me. It was fun and special and felt intentional.

She had come to Naples for a winter visit and “coincidentally” showed up at one of the meetings I regularly attend.  Now 6 years later we still connect every winter. We all know there are no coincidences.  And so whatever wisdom I may have imparted to her over the years, she has paid back tenfold.  That’s how it works.  In AA and in life.  What we  give we get.  But I know I need to listen to “get” all that is intended for me.  Today I am making the commitment to w.a.i.t.

How about you?  Let me know how it works for you?