“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.” – Teilhard de Chardin
A few weeks ago, I was describing to my counselor how overwhelmed and exhausted I felt trying to navigate the busyness of life and all that must be accomplished at the end of the school year. I explained that I felt like so much was on my plate and despite how hard I worked, it was still never enough. (I recently sat with a Senior who, through tears, uttered the exact same words to me. I wonder if many of us are feeling this way as the school year draws to a close.) My counselor’s reply was not what I expected, but was exactly what I needed to hear. She said, “We feel overwhelmed because our souls are not meant for this hurried world. Everyone expects you to go fast, but your soul is tied to Jesus and His pace is slow.”
She then referenced one of my favorite passages in Scripture: John 15. In this passage, Jesus says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain (or abide) in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
In our instant, digital age, agricultural metaphors throughout Scripture are often lost on us. We are used to getting our food from grocery stores, restaurants, drive thru lines, and food delivery apps. So unless you are an avid gardener, you tend to forget how slow the process of growing food is. When Jesus talks about us walking with Him and bearing spiritual fruit in our lives, He likens it to the process of planting a vineyard and growing grapes – a process that, in ancient Israel, could take anywhere between 4-12 years.
The Kingdom of God is slow.
While I truly believe that some of the most good, beautiful, and lasting things take time, I often feel frustrated by the slowness of God. I want predictable results and instant gratification from my work. I want to see God answer my prayers immediately and in the exact way that I want Him to. I want to see the fruit of His Spirit show up more quickly in my own life and story, as well as in the lives of my friends, family, co-workers, and students. And, if I’m honest with myself, I want to believe that if I just work hard enough, I can force this growth and change to occur.
As I’ve spent the last few weeks walking alongside this Senior class as they prepare to give their Capstone Speeches, the culmination of a year long project where they explore the question, “what do you love?” I can’t help but think of all the people who have faithfully planted little seeds in their lives, never knowing what fruit it would bear. I think of all the ways I’ve seen them grow over the four years I’ve known them: in courage, humility, eloquence, leadership, and love. I think of how incredibly resilient they’ve been through different hardships and challenges.
The truth is that virtues don’t develop in an instant and resilience is not clearly seen on a day-to-day basis. Rather, the changes I’ve seen in students are the culmination of many years and thousands of people, lessons, experiences, conversations, and choices that have helped them discover who they are, what they love, and how they can use their gifts to bring the goodness of God’s Kingdom to earth.
These students are slowly “becoming.”
Gregory Boyle, in one of my favorite books, writes about the quote I used at the beginning of this post. Boyle says, “Teilhard de Chardin wrote that we must ‘trust in the slow work of God.’ Ours is a God who waits. Who are we not to? It takes what it takes for the great turnaround. Wait for it.”
May we be a people who wait with hope. May we be a people who continue to plant seeds even if we will never reap the harvest. And may we be a people who trust in the slow, gentle, and redemptive rhythms of a God who is never too slow and never too late.
