Waiting
The following was written for the Christian Flash Weekly Event #20 – please click through to see the eligible submissions (this is ineligible for the event itself as it borrows its characters and setting from the play ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett).
‘He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.’
– Ecclesiastes 3:11
“How long have we been waiting now?”
“Oh, for some time, to be sure . . . it has been a while.”
“Will He come soon do you think? We’ve been waiting a good while.”
“Oh yes, very soon, I’m sure. It has been a while.”
“The tree looks a good deal healthier now. It doesn’t seem that long since it was just bark, and twigs.”
“Indeed. Those leaves certainly give this whole place a bit of colour, a bit of life.”
“Some of the leaves look different. Smaller, duller somehow.”
“Those are the buds, my old friend. They shall not remain dull for long.”
“How long have we been waiting?
“I don’t quite recall. It’s been a while. Long enough that I’m not quite sure what we were doing before.”
“Before? Weren’t we here before?”
“Oh, yes, but before that?”
“Well I’m sure I don’t remember. I’m not even sure that I remember why we are waiting for Him?
“Why? Why we are waiting? Because He is coming! We have to wait for Him – it is our purpose. He said He would meet us here.”
The two paused in a moment’s silence.
“Didi, why is there only one tree here? Isn’t that a bit . . . absurd?”
“Not really Gogo, not really. It has always been this way.”
“Always?”
“Oh, yes. Well, for as long as I can remember anyway.”
“I wish I had a memory like yours. I don’t even really remember yesterday.”
“Yesterday was much like today; although I do remember a yesterday which was slightly different once. A while ago; when the tree was all bark and twigs. When there were others.”
“Other trees?”
“No, my old friend, other people.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Oh, sometimes we’re not meant to, I expect. All shall become clear when He returns. We must be patient, and make sure He finds us here waiting for Him: as we agreed; as we promised.”
“The buds are breaking open! I don’t remember ever seeing colours like that!
“They were worth waiting for, weren’t they? The bark and twigs are beautiful in their time, in the season to which they belong . . . but when the buds emerge, the blossoms appear, and an even greater beauty blooms into life.”
The two friends enjoyed the scene in beguiled silence.
“Didi, sometimes I feel like I want to go . . . somewhere else.”
“That will pass. Why would you do that anyway? What other place is there?”
“I don’t know.”
“We agreed to meet Him here.”
“Oh yes, I forgot.”
“That, old friend, is also part of my purpose – to help you remember. So you can be here with me, when He returns.”
“You know, Didi, I don’t think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than this tree; the blossoms, I mean. And the fragrance . . . the fragrance of those blossoms . . . it’s heavenly. It’s changed the whole atmosphere of this place.”
“Heavenly . . . yes, that is the word, I agree. . . ; this is the season for that fragrance: this is its time.”
“Will it ever be our time, Didi?
“When He comes back, I expect. We must be patient – He is due to return.”
“Didi! One of the petals has fallen. It’s still beautiful on its own, but it won’t last will it? All of the petals will fall, and none of them will last.”
“Within the seasons, time can be fleeting. There is a time for everything; but the blossoms may last forever, some day, when He returns.”
“But when will that be? We’ve already been waiting a long while.”
“Oh, soon I hope, very soon. When the time is right. When it is a time . . . of His choosing. But I confess, I do hope that time shall be soon, my old friend . . . very soon.”
~Fin~
More Than Dreamt Of 
Reblogged this on Faith Unlocked and commented:
This is a short story I wrote last weekend, which I have posted on my new sister blog, “More Than Dreamt Of”, which I am using for fiction. Hope you enjoy!
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I studied ‘Waiting for Godot’ for my Modern Languages degree. The fact that you’ve based it on the play, I think, makes it all the more eligible as a piece of Christian fiction. The original play was about nihilism, it professed the meaninglessness of life, the unknowability of a God who doesn’t seem to want to show his face, and a brutal and unpredictable world, in which time means nothing and life’s main purpose was observing the oppression around you; a world in which man’s main aim is to cling onto company for dear life and forestall the urge to kill himself in his own helplessness. But your writing is about observing the passage of time and waiting patiently and faithfully for God, placing faith in him to fulfil his promises, and looking at the beauty of the world and believing in a creator who exists. It is about hope, and learning, and a world that is intelligible, and time that is real. The very fact that you’ve placed this sort of work in the setting and with the characters of an existentialist play, I think, makes an even grander statement than if you had not done so. It is an answer to the fatalism of the estranged from God who do not hope in him or believe in his created order, and who write literature out of the angst of their lost condition. Writing this on top of ‘Waiting for Godot’ is an important artistic statement. I am very surprised that your work isn’t eligible for Christian Flash Weekly.
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Thank you so much for your comment! To receive such encouragement and appreciation from someone who has studied and really understands the original source work is immensely humbling.
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I loved this story! Yes, all in God’s timing! He will return when the time is perfect. I am awaiting His return, too. May we get His plans He wants done first. When the last person has been told about Him, then He will be ready to come for us! It still is everyone’s choice to choose Him though. May His work be done through us!
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Reblogged this on IN ALL OF GOD'S CREATION and commented:
I love this story on a view of God’s perfect timing. Waiting for His return!
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