Make Haste Slowly!

 

In today’s world, everything is fast-paced. Fast foods have replaced traditional meals; today’s children are the “indomie (noodles) generation”. Impatience is so rife that it has become difficult for people to take time to prepare proper meals that they can afford! Many are digging their graves with their forks and knives. Cancer cases are at an all time high, some caused by what we eat. Traditional ways of doing things are fast eroding. I hail the advent of the internet and everything else that has made life easier for us. However, some things still need time to turn out well. Nature teaches us the value of time. Seeds need time to become trees. Pregnancies should run full term before normal, healthy babies are delivered. A man cannot impregnate nine women and expect to have children one month after, it takes nine months to deliver one baby. Children need time to grow, so does money and investments. No one eats a week old chick. (Maybe with the exception of the Chinese; they eat anything!) I recall with amazement a documentary I once saw in which a leopard approached a trench that had warthogs in it. The leopard could not see the warthogs, but it could smell them, it knew they were there and it was too difficult and dangerous to get inside the trench. So what did it do? It waited! From the evening of that day into the morning of the next day, for a period of about twelve hours, it waited! As soon as the first warthog came out the trench, the leopard struck and killed it.

 God is very patient with us, if not we wouldn’t be here now! He allows us learn, make our mistakes and he forgives us. God doesn’t give up on people. We should be patient with other people as well. The next time you are tempted to be impatient with anyone, think of how patient God and other people have been with you. People change for good, children grow, and things will get better with time. With patience, self examination and a will to change, bad habits will be dropped, and life can become beautiful for you. With patience, a crawling child will eventually run and he’ll stop using diapers! Patience is an attribute of love; 1^st Cor 13:4. When our children err, we must correct them in love or else we may ruin their psyche for life. It takes patience to relate properly with teenagers(remember you were once one), colleagues at work, friends, on the queue at d bank, and while driving on the high way. Patience is nonexistent until it is tested.

Life throws blows at us sometimes; only with patience can we regain balance and overcome trials. Without patience, we would easily be disappointed and give up on our big dreams. It takes patience for emotional scars to heal, as far as breath is intact, there is no injury that will not heal. Wounded relationships and marriages can heal with time. Divorce rates will be drastically reduced if the parties concerned were just a bit more patient; if they hesitated a bit more before indulging in verbal and physical abuse, before cheating. I know that patience can be demanding sometimes, especially in marriage; with someone you get to see every day, someone who makes the same ‘mistakes’ so often. However, with all the factors duly considered, patience is cheaper than the absence of it. In fact, impatience in the choice of a spouse is often the cause of turbulent marriages in the first place. The prodigal son realised the error of his ways with time and returned home without anyone speaking with him.

“Patience gives your spouse permission to be human. It understands that everyone fails. When a mistake is made, it chooses to give them more time that they deserve to correct it. It gives you the ability to hold on during the rough times in your relationship rather than bailing out under the pressure.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

Impatient folks cannot get the best out of life. They are prone to error and failure because their judgement is poor and their views are distorted. Esau traded his birthright (which was to affect many generations) for one meal. Just one meal! If he had eaten it in the morning, he would have been hungry again by evening on the same day. We weren’t told in that account that there was a famine, so why the impatience and desperation! Many are in the prison; some in the grave because of impatience. Those who live too fast often die young.

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
― Benjamin Franklin

Patience is not only about the length of time, but it is the state of the heart; do not only wait, but wait in faith with the right attitude. Patience is not inaction or laziness, it is proper action. As seen in the example of the leopard in the introduction, it waited to strike at the right time and didn’t allow the first warthog to come out and stroll along leisurely. Patience helps us concentrate and pay attention. It is a condition for fulfilment and answered prayers, Heb. 6:12. Abraham in the bible waited for 25 years before his Promised child was born. Due to his patience, he became a reference point for blessings forever. You can’t get what God has not given to you at the time he has not given it to you. Any attempt to do so will end in bitter regret. If you make an order for any item, once you pay the price, it is already yours, though it may take some time for the company to make the delivery. I am reminded of the story of a greedy African couple who decided to use their child for money ritual (voodoo cum human sacrifice which is believed to bring stupendous wealth). They went ahead to sacrifice the child, yet they remained poor. They lost their child, lost a good conscience and peace of mind and still remained poor. I must remind the young people reading this article that you will also make it big, become rich and famous, and live the life of your dreams. When and how will this be you ask? I don’t know, but I’m certain that it will take some time and a dint of hard and smart work. Fulfilment for some will come very early, for others; it may not be so early but it will come eventually! Some will become CEOs of reputable organisations in their 30s, for others it won’t happen till their late 50s. If you are not there yet, it doesn’t mean you won’t get there; delay is not denial. These things differ according to God’s plan & sovereignty, individual character and disposition, e.t.c. My mother says ‘with patience, you can cook a stone till it becomes soft’.

“Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is "timing" it waits on the right time to act,
or the right principles and in the right way.”
― Fulton J. Sheen

“Patience and wisdom walk hand in hand, like two one-armed lovers.”
― Jarod Kintz, $3.33

Patience is a condition for the fulfilment of destiny. God’s promises may not come to pass tomorrow morning. As far as He is concerned, the means also justifies the end. The process is as important as the product. Moses was trained in Pharaoh’s household and he was prepared by God for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt all his life, but he wasn’t given specific instructions by God to kick-start Israel’s deliverance from Egypt until he was 80 years old! He was zealous by killing the Egyptian who fought the Israelite; this tells us that he had an idea of purpose as far back as when he was a young man. Moses may have become a warlord, rebel, terrorist or dissident in his zeal/attempt to facilitate Israel’s deliverance before time. If this had been the case, his movement would have been crushed, and he would have been killed by Pharaoh’s superior, and unrivalled military might in his heyday. Timing (inspired by patience for strategic planning and clarity of direction) is important in fulfilment. Barrack Obama would never have become the President of the U.S. if he ran for the office eight years before he eventually did. Setting out too early sometimes may be just as disastrous as starting too late.  If you have two hours to cut down a tree, it may be worth it to spend one and a half sharpening your axe and resolving the direction of the fall. Recall that Jesus already knew his purpose when he was 12 years old; reasoning with the elders at the temple after his parents forgot him there. Despite his divine nature, he didn’t start his ministry until he was 30 years old and the ministry lasted only 3.5 years after which he hung patiently and endured pain on a cross he could have easily come down from. Joseph had authentic, divinely inspired dreams but had to go through hatred and betrayal from his brothers, captivity in Egypt, servitude and temptation in Potiphar’s household and imprisonment on death row; all spanning a period of 13 years before his dreams came through and his ascendancy to the post of Prime Minister in a foreign land. Abraham set out of his community on divine instruction, not knowing where he was going. He patiently followed and obeyed until he found his utopia and received the fulfilment of God’s promises.

“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”
― Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
― Aristotle

Moses could not have brought Israel out of Egypt without God’s help. The Egyptians were simpler stronger and more technologically advanced in warfare. Joseph would not have attained greatness without God’s help. In the forgoing examples you will observe that brute force and exclusive human effort cannot achieve much. There is no such thing as a self made man. Whether we realise/admit it or not, man is nothing and can achieve nothing without God’s help (let the atheists note this too). Patience aids good judgement and maturity. God is usually not in a hurry with the most important things. No one desires barrenness and children born at the expected time often attain greatness, however I have observed that barren mothers in the bible often gave birth to special children.

“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”
― Molière

A look at the billionaires in the world today (with the exception of heirs) shows that most of them are beyond 50 years old, this is because money also grows. As long as we are alive, we must patiently and consistently keep at what God has called us to do. It takes patience, consistent and conscientious work to attain the peak of ANY career. Never give up on something you really want or need, it may be difficult to wait, but it worse to regret later. I conclude with the words of Shikamaru Nara, “There's no advantage to hurrying through life."