Thirteen Years

I wonder my friends, if anyone else finds themselves constantly in a rush? Sometimes I realize that I am in a rush for absolutely no reason. I have no where to be, I have no one waiting on me I am simply in a hurry for the sake of being in a hurry. Unfortunately that mentality has spilled over into every area of my life. Each week I am in a rush for Saturday, or I am in a hurry to get through the day so that I can put the kids to bed and watch Downton Abbey in peace! (I know I am not the only one who looks forward to 8:00 bedtime!)

Today I have been catching up on my Beth Moore Bible Study, “James”. Some of the days I have been working on are so challenging to me that I have to sit and stew on them for a few days. Needless to say I have fallen behind. There I go doing it again, rushing through my study! There is no deadline, there is not test at the end of the study, no teacher pestering me to hurry up.

It is ok to chew on this challenging word for a while. I believe in my heart that is how we change, but slowing down is all new to me. For so long I have felt that I have to stay on track! I have to finish in the appropriate time so I rush. I rush through life so that I can keep up with some imaginary deadline or I rush so that I can get to the next big things.

Here is the deal for me; I have lost sight of the process, oh the process. Can I be honest and tell you sometimes I despise the process. The last two weeks God and me have been “discussing” the process. Well I have been discussing, God has been pretty quiet….until today. Today I am doing Week six day two, five minutes in this is what I read…”try as you may, you can’t rush training”. Beth Moore you have done it again. Just what I needed to read, just when I needed to read it!

I have been in ministry now for thirteen years, thirteen long, difficult, tiring years. Thirteen years of training. In all my rushing I have lost sight of something. Thirteen years of growing, learning and loving. Thirteen years of amazing people, places and growing influence. Thirteen years of building a family, a home and a rock solid love for Jesus. Thirteen years and I am only at the beginning.

Even as I write this, my mind is wondering to all the things that need to get done today and this week. Already I am beginning to rush. My prayer today, my very scary, very timid prayer this week is this, “Lord give me the patience to enjoy the process, give me the focus to see the joy in each day and each difficulty.”

James 5:7
7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

Be Patient. Slow Down and enjoy your life. Understand the law of the harvest. When seeds go in a farmer must patiently wait on the crop to get ready, it goes through stages of grown until it is ripe and ready. So do we. WE are each in a different stage of growth, a different place and our lives ripen at a different pace. Each stage if valuable and necessary and most importantly only for a season. So take heart my friends, this time in your life is only a season. Don’t rush it.

I have enjoyed looking back over the last thirteen years at the people I have met and loved, the places I have lived and visited. The training I have received has been invaluable and has prepared me for whenever God sees fit to open the doors to new opportunities! I will try my best to patient and stop rushing, I will try and that is all I can do.