Waiting as a Spiritual Exercise
The Practice of Patience
The red light. The grocery line. The spinning wheel on a slow-loading screen. Many times a day, life asks us to wait — and something in us bristles. We sigh, we tap the wheel, we reach for the phone. The ego experiences waiting as an insult, a theft of time we felt entitled to. But what if these small delays are not obstacles at all? What if they are invitations?
In Choosing Presence, Jim Heaney tells of arriving with his wife Patricia in a packed Times Square. “I was a little impatient,” he admits, “a reflection of my own resistance to what was happening in the moment.” Then he began to breathe — “with the intention of connecting with my vibrant inner life.” Within a minute or two, the crowd and the noise no longer mattered. “Instead of being impatient and annoyed with it, I was completely enjoying it.”
That is the quiet secret of patience. Our impatience is rarely about the light or the line; it is the ego turning restlessness into urgency. As Richard Rohr writes, the ego “takes your aimless anxiety, covers it up, and turns it into purposefulness and urgency.” Waiting exposes that urgency — and lets us release it. Each pause we are handed is a doorway back to the breath, back to the present moment, back to God, who is never in a hurry.
This week, when you find yourself waiting, don’t reach for your phone. Breathe instead. Let the delay become a gift.
Brian Mueller – Poet, Community Organizer, and Spiritual Guide
Brian Mueller is a poet and community organizer based in Dayton, Ohio. He serves as Director of Education & Engagement for ChoosingPresence.org and is an active member of the Ohio Chapter of Illuman, where he co-leads writing retreats that support men’s spiritual journeys. As a writer, Brian is known for his candid, accessible poetry, with works including Cock‑A‑Doodle‑Doo: 100 Morning Haiku, the Poem of the Day series, and the Bull Series. Inspired by poets like Rumi and Mary Oliver, he believes everyone carries the voice of a poet within.
