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,
to something new,
and yet it is the law of all progress
that is made by passing through
some stages of instability...
and that may take a very long time.
And so, I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually-
let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on,
as though you could be today
what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accepting the anxiety
of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
- Pierre Teilhard d'e Chardin
One of the ladies in my Tuesday Bible study shared this with the class. I have been reading it all week and I am still trying to decided what it means to me.
I know that I spend all of my days hurrying to the next thing. Hurry to rise, hurry to breakfast, hurry to take care of business, hurry to play, hurry to sleep. I worry that I will not get it all done, as if I have some deadline. But really, I don't. I am always looking ahead to the next big event. To what tomorrow has in store, instead of enjoying today.
All I have to do, is make sure my kids are happy and loved. That they know the excitement of a new day and that they can revel in all that is good in our world. That they are protected and that they know when to give to others. That they have patience for each other and for the plan God has for their lives.
I plan to keep this saying on my bathroom mirror, so that it can serve as a reminder to me to enjoy every day. To remember that there is a plan for my life and that in God's time it will be revealed to me.
What does this statement mean to you?
I know this is rather deep for my normal posts, but I just thought I would get some of your input...