Living with Tiptoes

Had you ever think of it, how much time had you spent in your lifetime by just waiting? Waiting for people? Waiting for public transport such as taxi, transits, train, bus and etc..? Waiting for new opportunity to swing by?

I used to enjoy my trip to airport. Either picking someone up from airport, shop for a bar of chocolate or having a cup of tea at the middle of the night with my close friend at the terminal building. I always find that, airport is a serene place with full of serendipity. I wish that I could just get an air ticket, and board into a flight to another destination at that moment. Enjoying the sight-seeing, and the aerial view from the sky.

Recently, i spend a fair amount of time in airports, either picking up of dropping off someone. I have grown accustomed to seeing several different kinds of "waiters" - people who are waiting to pick up someone who is arriving on a flight. First, there are always a couple of "Drivers." You can recognize them easily because they are holding up a sign with a person's name on it (Mr. XXX or En. XXX ). They've been sent to airport by their employer to pick up someone they don't know. It's just a job to them. Pick up Mr. Smith and his luggage and take him wherever he wants to go." Get a call, make a sign, deliver a person. Job done..... :) They are attentive, but usually look bored while they're waiting.

Then they are the "Associates." They are at the airport to pick up people they know but whose arrival is not an emotional event. Perhaps the person waiting at the airport is a business associate, or perhaps it's a wife picking up a husband who travels several times a month. These people wait by reading magazines, newspaper or novels, hanging out in the gift shop or choc shop, walking around the concourse, or chatting with other "Associate" waiters. They amble over the gate at just the right time to greet their party. They Some of them may just lazy to get down from their car, staying inside the car, listening to radio. They are not bored, but they do yawn a lot. For them, waiting is a routine thing.

Finally, there are the "Eagers." They are the people who have perfected the art of waiting eagerly. It it's a young woman pacing back and forth with an anxious, almost teary-eyed look, I know it's a fiancee or a newlywed waiting on her knight in airborne armor to return from their first separation. If it's an older couple standing at the head of the line, right in front of the arrival gat, I know it's grand parents waiting to smother a new grandbaby with kisses, or parents waiting for a college students or serviceman to come home after a way-too-long absence.

But the most fun "Eagers" to watch are the little kids. If they're there to pick up their daddy, they're racing back and forth along the huge glass windows; thery're jumping up and down, they're embarrassing their mother with their shrieks. "There's his place, Mom! Is that daddy's plane?" If they break free from their mom, they're foraging through the forest of adult legs to get to the front of the crowd to be the first one to see Daddy. Whatever they are doing, they are doing it on their tiptoes. Have you ever seen little kids run around on their tiptoes when they're excited? They look like baby ballerinas. Even when they've got a clear view, they're standing on their toes. It's what kids do. They eagerly anticipate what they desire.

Waiting had becoming a piece of art in life. Are we doing well in developing the art of "eager anticipation" - leaning to live life on our tiptoes. Especially do we we need this skills when things are not going well, when life is hard. After all, no matter in which stages we are, it is always an assignment given by GOD to us - waiting to be delivered tom the wounded world in which we live. Those who learn to wait eagerly are the once for whom suffering produces anticipation instead of apathy or anger. Everyone has to wait, but we are given the choice as to how we wait.

We are not just wait; we are to wait eagerly. We are not just to look, we are to look forward to. We are not to wait passively; we are to wait actively. And most of all, we are not to wait sitting down, we are to wait on out tiptoes.

Well.... I guess waiting had became a part of our life. The question is, What kind of waiters are you? How are you waiting as waiters? As a "Driver," and "Associate," or an "Eager"?

I always admire my dog for her persistency of waiting? Waiting patiently will hope...and sadness. She is always asking Why are you leaving me alone? Where are you going? When will you be back? How long does it takes? I can see her face, her facial expression mingling with all sorts of question. Hoping that the master does not leave her alone. But... she had no choice. She always waited eagerly with hope and love, hoping that her master will be back one day.

If you are sitting down while reading this, stand up for a moment. Now rise up on your tiptoes. Feel good?