In the Pause

A poem for those who are waiting.

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Waiting and Peace
A reflection

There are seasons in life when the hardest thing to do is wait. The space between what has happened and what is still to come can feel uncertain, lonely, and filled with questions that seem to have no answers.

Yet I’ve found that growth tends to happen in the pause. Instead of rushing toward resolution, we’re invited to embrace what is (even when it isn’t what we hoped for) and trust that God is still at work, even when we can’t yet see the full picture.

Our waiting is not wasted.

At least this is what I’ve been telling myself.

Sometimes I whisper those five words and roll my eyes.

Sometimes I whipser those five words and rest.

But it’s true.

Our waiting is not wasted.

Waiting teaches us that we don’t have to understand every step to keep moving forward. Disappointment can often feel like delay, but sometimes delay is simply another invitation to depend on God. The in-between becomes a place where our faith is strengthened, our hope is shaped, and we discover that God’s presence is enough, even when all we seem to have are questions tangled with frustration.

I’m currently trying to finish a novel. And by “trying to finish,” I mean I haven’t opened the document in six months. But I’ve thought about it every single day.

I’ve thought about the characters. I’ve thought about the story. I’ve thought about what needs to change and what should stay the same.

But I haven’t written.

I’ve learned that not writing isn’t always the same as not working. Sometimes stories keep growing in places you can’t see.

One day I’ll open that document again. I’ll begin writing and rewriting, cutting pages and adding new ones, and the story will continue. This pause doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten it, and it certainly doesn’t mean the story is over. Right now, what the story needs is time. It’s in a season of waiting, not abandoned or discarded, just waiting. The story needs time. The pause isn’t punishment. It’s part of what the story needs.

Maybe our seasons are a little like that.

Sometimes it seems like nothing is happening. It can feel as though God has forgotten you, or that your life has somehow stalled. But perhaps the pause isn’t the end of the story. Perhaps it’s preparing you for what’s next.

And maybe, just maybe, we can have peace in the waiting as we trust that what God is preparing in us is just as important as what He is preparing for us.

So for now, I’ll enter the pause and let it be my prayer.

With hope,

Tanner

In the Pause
A poem

I am learning how to live in the pause

Between
what happened
and where I stand,
what broke
and what is being built.

A land of questions,
making my home in maybe,
on the street of “I don’t know”
in a city of silence
where questions knock louder than answers.

And I,
I’m just trying
to live something honest,
something solid,
that does not get washed away
by the waves of waiting.

Pause has become my prayer.

Building my life in the tension,
learning to be held
without having answers,
to trust without seeing the full picture.

Everything in me
wants resolution,
but God is teaching me
how to remain in the mystery.

Telling my heart,
stay, you’ll be okay,
don’t disappear in the delay.

A soul learning to listen to the Spirit,
a silence teaching me to speak,
a longing reminding me of faithfulness.

Expect nothing
and see that all of this is a gift.

Gratitude in the unfinished.

In the not yet,
the still becoming.
In prayers that haven’t received answers.
In dreams that lost their shape.
In steps that feel uncertain.

This in between, this ache
is a gift.

I can’t explain it,
I just trust God is making all things new,
my dreams, my tomorrow,
my hope, my sorrow,
this season, and the next.

Every prayer held,
every moment holy,
every step walked
with the One who never left.

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