If I’m honest, I’ll admit that I’m all about instant gratification. I’m embarrassed to say that, but I know that it’s true. I want things now. Results, answers, met goals, finished projects, satisfaction, healing, problems solved….the list goes on and on.
When I have an idea, I want to make it happen. When I have an issue, I want it fixed immediately. It’s that run-ahead mentality that I struggle with. The “right now” factor. My motto? “Let’s do this thing!”
In the past couple of years, God has been teaching me much about the idea of process. That although there are times when His answers and ways will be instantaneous, much of the time He chooses to do something great through the journey of the process. Sometimes it is the process of changing my heart in new ways. And sometimes it is the process of me discovering His heart in new ways. And most of the time it’s both.
He has taught me to:
1. Accept the idea of process. Realize that this one’s “gonna take a while” and recognize that He is using the process as a way of teaching and growing me that wouldn’t happen if something instantaneous happened.
2. Enjoy the process. Look for the little steps of progress along the way to be thankful for instead of being impatient with the time line. View it with excitement as He gives more clarity with each step.
3. Understand the process. Sometimes there will be steps backwards or times that I fall or miss something. Times when the path I want seems to go change direction. When the answer we were looking for begins to change shape. Process will not always look like progress. But to know that He is still at work and to trust His hand.
4. Allow process in others. If God is so gracious as to allow process in my life journey, then I need to show that same grace to others on their journey. Their process will look different than mine. It is their own unique road with its own set of twists and turns.
I am becoming more and more comfortable with this concept. I am becoming more patient and am beginning to trust the idea of process and God’s hand in it, more and more. Slowly, I am figuring out how to not rush things and wish things away. Because in the middle of the thorns that can pop up on the process path, there are some very fragrant and beautiful roses that encourage me to keep walking hand in hand with the One knows the purpose of the process.
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
