Anyone who knows me, knows I’m pretty driven.

I have task lists that I love to check off each and every day. And, I often ask Krista, “How was your day?” implicitly asking, “What did you accomplish?” This is part of who I am, and how I’m wired.

But, what I’m also learning is that patience and slowness is a gift.

When I read the Bible, what I notice is how often God doesn’t seem to be speedy. God seems to be okay with taking His time. He doesn’t always seem to do things instantaneously, but rather gives things time to grow and change.

And, this idea of being patient with God – of God working faithfully over decades and generations, and of us being obsessed with speed and yet trusting in the slow work of God – is something that is becoming more and more obvious to me.

We read in Psalm 37:7: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” We are called to wait patiently for Him.

Or, we read multiple times in Paul’s writings about how we are called to be patient. (see 1 Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:2)

And, I think that we, as a culture and society, have fallen in love with speed and efficiency, when what I think we are called to do is to fall in love with the slow, patient, and true work of God.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin writes:

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We would like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take a very long time. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser.”

And, that’s what has been really working on my soul lately – seeking to trust in the slow work of God, and that He who began a good work is faithful to complete it. (see Philippians 1:6)