Patience and Timing

I am learning something fundamental about the kingdom... something I wish I knew a long time ago that only now am I beginning to see daylight. You ever in a conversation with someone about something and... you are wholly convinced you are right about something that you think would make a major difference in the other person's life, but they don't see it at all for some reason? Yeah, most people have been there, done that, and gotten the tee shirt. The fact is, every lesson we learn, we learn in time. Time is God's canvas by which he works out all changes in our lives. So in the kingdom, timing is everything.

I'm learning that change never happens at the pace we expect it to. We expect things and people to change overnight or in an instant. That's not really how life works. I don't have the same perceptions and beliefs I did when I was 20; and in fact I'm sure if I were to meet 'me' at age 20 now we wouldn't see eye-to-eye about much of anything. Is that 20 year old me right about anything that I might be wrong about? It's possible, but I think I've learned more in my day than I've unlearned. I'm pretty sure I'm more right about stuff now than I was back then. Doesn't mean I would be able to teach the 20 year old me anything- being teachable is something that you learn, more or less, in time. Even that is up for negotiation- we are more or less teachable on any given subject at any given point of our lives. The best way a human being in Christ or even out of Christ learns is through time.

God is always orchestrating lessons for us to get past our defenses. In time we mature in many ways. Expecting others to learn things that we only learned the hard way may not be foolish- sometimes people do learn the easy way. Most often, however, it is the hard way we choose, and God teaches much that way. So it is cool that you see how the world and the people around you ought to be, but try to remember that you are not as your maker desires and that some things only change with time. Patience is critical, both with yourself and with the world. People aren't projects- they are human beings in need of our love. I need to remember this most of all, for the temptation to berate a point and in the process "beat a dead horse" is tremendous. Love isn't like that. Remember- timing is everything. The wrong word now might be the right word tomorrow. Timing is everything- we are called to be patient. And Lord please grant me patience...