I give you an emptiness,
I give you a plenitude,
unwrap them carefully.
— one’s as fragile as the other —
and when you thank me
I’ll pretend not to notice the doubt in your voice
When you say they’re just what you wanted.
Put them on the table by your bed.
When you wake in the morning
they’ll have gone through the door if sleep
Into your head. Wherever you go
they’ll go with you and
wherever you are they’ll wonder,
smiling about the fullness
you can’t add to and the emptiness
that you can’t fill.
Norman MacCaig
Relax and let all of life flow through you…even the bad days! 🙂
This is a little about the creator of these amazing comics –
Hi! My name is Leah. I live in San Francisco, CA. I started drawing comics in 2010 when i ran out of words but still had something to say.
The name DharmaComics is a double entendre. “Dharma”, a sanskrit word, has many translations. One of which is “Truth” – but rather than an objective truth, it refers to the truth inside each of us, our personal compass, guide, knowing.
Another is “Nature”, as in, our individual nature, that which we were born to be and do. The example is often given of an acorn, who’s dharma is to grow into an oak tree; and not just any oak tree, but the specific one it becomes.
To me “Dharma Comics” refers both to my quest to reflect deep personal truthfulness, and also, i experience these comics as something i am meant to do. I don’t have to believe in some big master plan, i know because like the acorn into the oak, they come naturally.
In this day of ‘instant’ everything, the practice, and importance, of patience is ignored…a lot. Ok, I can understand why – it’s HARD! haha Our natural inclination is to want-what-we-want and then go and get it, or do it. Yet patience and waiting are extremely important and valuable in life, and with learning to trust God.
Growing our faith depends on our ability to wait on listening, and waiting, for the voice of God. Not and easy task, but, oh so worth it!
I have learned a lot of patience over the years. God has blessed me with many lessons in waiting, and developing, my patience. I do not feel like I have gained ‘virtue’ status – ha – maybe I never will. It is a challenge for me each and every time. Yet I know the value, I trust God’s timing over my own impulse and I am willing to keep attempting to wait gracefully each time I am called to do so.
I no longer want to live my life my own way. I know God has much better plans for me than I can accomplish on my own – and so, once again I am at a moment of waiting. The pause. The void. The hope. The risk. The possible disappointment. The struggle to walk in peace. The letting go. The constant prayer communication to allow me to let whatever happens be right.
It’s a balancing, see saw, circus act for me – I go up – I go down – and I give thanks for the process as it is teaching me and growing my faith in this amazing God who has been so faithful to me and brought me right here, to where I should be, on this path of grace.
For a girl like me it is nothing less than amazing, incredible, awe-inspiring! and it fuels my passion to keep growing, letting go further and further as I am consumed by the unfathomable love that gives me all good things! I was just blessed to read the book Flirting With Faith by Joan Ball. It encouraged me so much at this particular moment. I highly recommend it.
All I can do is fall on my face in gratitude and gladly give up….myself…my wants…my life…my all.
Yes, the waiting is the hardest part in some ways – yet also the most important and the most blessed as well. The valley is where you become intimate and learn to trust. Nothing can take its place and no one can take that from you. I know – I’ve been there! I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It is my truth – in my times of patience I have seen the face, and heard the voice, of God.
The Waiting
by Tom Petty
Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream
Yeah I’ve never known nothing quite like this
Don’t it feel like tonight might never be again
We know better than to try and pretend
Baby no one coulda ever told me ’bout this
I said yeah yeah
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
Well yeah I might have chased a couple women around
All it ever got me was down
Then there were those that made me feel good
But never as good as I’m feeling right now
Baby you’re the only one that’s ever known how
To make me wanna live like I wanna live now
I said yeah yeah
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
Oh don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you
Don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you
I’ll be your bleedin’ heart, I’ll be your cryin’ fool
Don’t let this go too far
For seeing that something always comes
to fill the empty places.
For making spaces,
and not being afraid of
the empty places —
for letting all the moments be
these empty containers
sure of the filling of God.
I have waited a lot over the years, for many different reasons. In 1997 I stepped out in a leap of faith, and my life exploded in ways I certainly never expected and I began a walk of faith that has been quite an incredible journey with God. It certainly was not what I would have picked for myself, yet, I do not question the way. As the song, Heal the Wound says, ‘I have not lived a life that boasts of anything, and I don’t take pride in what I’ve done, But I’ll build an alter with the rubble that you found me in, and every stone will sing of what you can redeem.’
In 2008 I waited on God for 52 days. It was an indescribably difficult time, in so many ways, and it changed me. It took my relationship with God and my faith to a new level. It was a time of learning and trusting God way beyond anything I had ever done before, and it set incredible things in motion over these next years. It took me to places of growth and healing that I did not expect, yet and so grateful for.
As you can probably tell by this blog over the past week or so – I am at another place of waiting, and, as I walk thorough it I am so thankful I have the prior experiences to encourage me as I walk through this time. Yes, patience is a virtue because it’s HARD!!! haha Certainly doesn’t come naturally for me…how about you? I want to make things happen! Shake up the people involved! Get something resolved – RIGHT NOW!!!! And yet I know, if I wait on God, if I am patient, it will be the right resolution, not just an end, or a beginning. Living with faith, having patience, putting life’s tough issues into God’s hands – then not worrying about them, and just waiting for Him is a practice of strength, discipline and courage – it is a choice which adds maturity, peace, joy, abundance, and so many other great benefits to our lives. It also allows us to grow in intimacy with God in ways that are like nothing else we experience.
As I read Ann’s words above, I, too, am sure (and eager) of the filling…and so I wait…
The spiritual life is a life that is guided by God’s Spirit, the same Spirit that guided the life of Jesus. So, how can we be in touch with the Spirit, hear the voice of the Spirit, and allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit?
Can we create some space for God where we can hear, feel, and experience the Spirit of God, and where it becomes possible for us to respond? Is there space in our lives where the Spirit of God has a chance of getting our attention?
We fill our inner space with worry about things that might happen and guilt about things that have already happened. And beneath our worry and our guilt there is a deep fear of empty spaces.
When we create an empty space, we make room for something to happen to us that we cannot predict, something that might be really new.
I am still
I wait
I pray
I clean
I am alone
– for the most part
Solitary
– even in a crowd
I wish for it
– interruptions come
some enjoyable
some annoying
I am present, yet not
I know the answer will come
I know movement is coming
but for now
It is the silence
That I embrace
and endure
with patience
and courage
at other times I have even been cheerful during this time
but not this time
This time,
I am in mourning
Grief surrounds my heart
heavy sadness
– for choices made
– being made even now
I long for intimacy
I long to be the choice
I wish I could help
but I can’t
Only God can do what needs to be done
– and He can only do it if the choice is made by you
– to ask, seek, knock – even the slightest opening He can transform
the choice is personal and must be freely made
and so we wait –
me and God
Jesus puts his arm around my shoulders
and pulls me close
I feel the Spirit holding my heart and bringing me comfort
I close my eyes and hear his promise,
‘I will never leave you or forsake you’
and my sadness is blurred
with the surge of peace and joy
The silence is good
we know each other here
in the waiting
we have been here many times before
I have learned to wait
– Even enjoy this path
the answer will come soon enough
this is the place of intimacy and trust
where we know each other most
Life will move forward
and I will spring into action
and do what is being set for me to do in my waiting
I do not question the way
– I am a willing vessel
Mine was a shattered life
which has known your healing touch
you, so lovingly, put my pieces together again
and mended me with love
My God knows the way
– mine is a heart of thankfulness
I am the grateful follower
waiting to love you and share with whomever I can
Not for any other reason except love
You have allowed me to glimpse
My belovedness
My value
The value of each soul you have created
The depths of your love is unending
I desire only to please you
My creator, my savior, my lover, my friend
I long to share this love
with the ones you allow me to
And so I wait
I stay in the silence
until my answer comes
and God speaks
I am listening, Lord
As You have before,
Speak when you are ready
life: acoustic & amplified 