Slow Down

  I’m in a hurry. What’s new? It seems like I’ve been in a hurry for as long as I can remember. When I was tiny I was in a hurry to start school; it didn’t take long before I was in a hurry for school to end, only to be in a hurry for the new school year to begin again. Then I was in a hurry to turn thirteen, when I would finally be a teenager. Then in a hurry to be 16 and drive, then 18 and graduate, then to start college, then to get married, then to have babies…it’s an endlesss cycle of always rushing toward whatever is next.

Do you know who is not in a hurry? God. At the precipice of the new year I sat out to read the Bible chronilogically.  I’m sure every chronological plan starts with Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning.” One of the few things I try not to hurry through is my Bible time. I want to sit and marinate in those moments with the Lord, though I admittedly there are days when I tend to  hurry through that as well. 

As I read through the story of creation it struck me differently. God is so powerful! He is so incredibly creative. He is so mighty. He could have easily snapped his fingers and created it all at once, but He didn’t. He was patient. He created one thing at a time, and then paused to reflect and observed its goodness. After creating it all he took another day to rest. He didn’t rest because He needed to, He rested to set an example for us. 

How often do I stop in the moments and observe? Not often enough. I won’t lie and say I never do. There are plenty of times in the moments of life when I just want to freeze the moment. When I recognize just how blessed I am, I will stop and observe. When my kids are all getting along and laughing together, I am filled with gratitude for them. There are times on vacation when my husband has been with us the entire time, and I want those moments of happiness to live on forever, then I stop and observe. I want to remember every aspect of every detail of those times. 

But God’s patience goes far beyond observing the good He has just created. The observation of the good is quickly followed by the observation of the fall. Evil entering the world and God’s immediate promise of a coming Savior. Yet he was still not in a rush. He patiently waited for thousands of years to send His Son. And in those moments of waiting He allowed people to know Him. He allowed history to be unfolded so that generations to come may know more about who He is, and that we can put our trust in Him.

His patience is so incredible. Him could have ended His waiting at any moment, and yet He never rushes. He knows all the good that will happen, yet He is not in a hurry for His kingdom to be complete. He waits. He allows all the things that have happened and those that have yet to happen, until His plan reaches completion. What seems like an eternity to us, is worth the wait for Him. Peter says that the “Lord’s patience means salvation” (Peter 3:15). If the creator of the universe can patiently await the perfection of His kingdom, why am I in such a rush? Maybe it’s time for me to slow down and observe more, I can’t make time go faster anyway.