Henri Nouwen Waiting Quotations

Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.

Waiting is a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. (Finding My Way Home)

Active waiting means present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.

[...]when two people have become present to each other, the waiting of one must be able to cross the narrow line between the living or dying of the other.

The world is waiting for new saints, ecstatic men and women who are so deeply rooted in the love of God that they are free to imagine a new international order.

Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.

Our spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, expecting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination or prediction. This, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.

Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.

Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking our words more seriously and discovering their true selves.