Waiting with patient trust

Came across one of my favorite books this week. It's John Ortberg's If You Want To Walk On Water, You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat. I was reminded of a quote from it that I have shared with many people before ... people who were in some form of waiting. It struck me how much this applies to us now with where we are in our adoption journey. In his chapter on Learning to Wait, he writes:

What does it look like to wait with patient trust?
Henri Nouwen gave us a picture of patient trust not long before he died in 1996. Writing about some trapeze artists who became good friends of his, he explained that there is a very special relationship between the flyer and the catcher...
As the flyer is swinging high above the crowd, the moment comes when he lets go of the trapeze, when he arcs out into the air. For that moment, which must feel like an eternity, the flyer is suspended in nothingness. It is too late to reach back for the trapeze. There is no going back now. However, it is too soon to be grasped by the one who will catch him. He cannot accelerate the catch. In that moment, his job is to be still and motionless as he can.
"The flyer must never try to catch the catcher," the trapeze artist told Nouwen. "He must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him. But he must wait. His job is not to flail about in anxiety. In fact, if he does, it could kill him. His job is to be still. To wait. And to wait is the hardest work of all."

We have answered the specific call that we believe God has led us to ... we began this adoption process. We let go of our trapeze. We know that our little boy(s) will come home, but we have no idea when and exactly what all of this will look like. We have to ignore the comments and the fears and the doubts and focus on waiting. In the middle of finishing paperwork and working on raising funds, we have to be motionless. We have to wait with patient trust.

It hit me tonight as we were driving back from Atlanta after meeting some friends for dinner. We drove down the interstate right under the planes that were landing. There WILL be a day when our plane from Ethiopia flies into that very same airport. We WILL get off of a plane just like the ones we saw tonight. He WILL be home with us and with his big sisters there to greet him. How and when we are going to get there, I do not know. We still have funds to raise and forms to fill out. That part we will do. The rest is up to the catcher, and we are going to trust that He will catch us all. Now to be still and wait ...