Don't rush, be ready

I remember all the times where I rushed into things without really being ready, just to follow the trend, to do like the others, just to obey, to comply, to please, without really considering my feelings and mental state. I also remember how I failed most of the time because of course, I was not ready. We may feel so pressured sometimes to perform, to prove something that in the process we get lost; we lose ourselves, our focus, our motivation, our energy and most importantly, the reason why. The reason why we started everything at first, the motives that gave us all this energy at first, that kept us awake, trying to do our best, trying to emerge, trying to succeed.

Looking at it with more perspective, more wisdom and experience, of course it was not worth it, it would have been better to question ourselves first, to do this work within ourselves first instead of diving right into something that would end up becoming uncontrollable and sometimes disappointing to us and to the people we love. People may say it was a mistake thinking about the end result, but we would know deep down that the first mistake was to not have listened to ourselves, to not have considered this inner voice, the Holy Spirit telling us to take the time, sit down and think our actions through first; the Bible says in Luke 14:28 to “first sit down and count the cost” [ESV]. It is an invitation, an invitation to think, to consider and reconsider, to make up a plan of action and submit it to God, seek his advice, discern what He wants for us, entirely commit our ways to Him, trust Him and let Him act (Psalm 37:5). Sometimes, we may have it right and what we want may align with what God wants but the timing might be very off. It takes wisdom and understanding to wait and keep on preparing ourselves for when the right time will come so as to be ready. However sometimes, what we want and hope for is not what God has in mind. It is really difficult because it is very painful to let go of our plans and aspirations. Nevertheless, we need to remember at all times to trust Him and let Him work things out because He said through Moses: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. […] The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. ” [Exodus 14:13-14 ESV]. In practice, standing firm is hard when many adversities come, trusting is even harder when we don’t see the outcome clearly; we are not used to patience and maybe that is what God also wants to teach us.

There are so many virtues and qualities God wants to instil in us as we go on in our relationship with Him. However, we need to really be connected to Him and trust Him in order to try and discern whatever He wants to teach us. Time with Him in prayer and meditation is important in order to share His heart, His will, His vision for us. Humility is needed to let Him increase while we decrease (John 3:30). Discipline is important to build healthy habits that will profit to us over the long term. Patience and Endurance are needed to stand firm and keep on believing even when the situation does not seem to change, when the fruits of our efforts do not show yet. Wisdom and discernment are key to be able to identify and distinguish what comes from God and what does not since sometimes, it is not because something seems good that it is God’s will; in Genesis, the fruit of the tree of knowledge was good for food and a delight to the eyes (Genesis 3:6) but it was not God’s will for Adam and Eve to have it. God also teaches us gentleness toward ourselves and hence toward the others since it always needs to start from within and overflow to touch and bless the others. Vulnerability and honesty are important in our relationships with God, ourselves and the others so as to not be deceptive to us and them, lying to ourselves and therefore to them that we are good while we are not. Being true to ourselves, God and the others is a real mark of love and consideration. It shows that we really value them, God and ourselves because we are authentic, not fleeing from our real feelings and emotions, letting them in instead of shutting down and suffering by ourselves, because we allow them to see and love us for who we are, at this very moment of our lives, not having any back thoughts of what they might think of us. The relationships that God wants us to build with Him, ourselves and the others make us go through a healing process, healing from the past wounds, the words and actions that some people said and took against us and that broke us, intentionally or not; truth is hurt people hurt people so these relationships also allow us to forgive fully and definitively these people who offended us so as to free ourselves but also give chances to the new friendships that will come.

All these qualities take time to develop and become part of us so we shall not flee from the processes, steps and seasons that will teach us and allow us to become better, we shall embrace them and take as much as we can. Even if sometimes, we may feel pain, we may feel hurt, we shall remember that the process of making diamonds is as hurtful and lengthy; they were formed by heat and pressure, taking between 1 to 3.3 billion years, but the end result is that expensive precious metal, so valuable, so sought out. God wants the same for us, He said: “I will make you majestic for ever” (Isaiah 60:15), “you shall be called My Delight is in Her” (Isaiah 62:4), “you shall be called Sought Out” (Isaiah 62:12). Yet, we must accept to go through these hardships, these periods of doubts and uncertainty, these periods of darkness, these periods of formation in order to be fully and well equipped for the purpose that God is calling us to.

23/04/2020