The slow work of God

What in the wide wide world of sports is going on?!? Have you been asking this question this summer/year? (Said in the voice of Taggart from Blazing Saddles, no less).

There is a worldwide pandemic, government over-reach or mishandling (depending on your view), none of the usual summer activities (NO SPORTS for crying out loud!), not to mention all the protests and politics and usual bickering that goes on.

Well, I found solace in my daily devotional again. In Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, they shared this quite from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on June 27:

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We would like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability -- and that it may take a very long time. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser."

Yes, I need to be reminded of this.

I don't normally care much for mushy internet memes, but I found the following story shared by a friend on Facebook quite helpful.

A while back I read a story of a visiting pastor who attended a men's breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area of the country. The group had asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast:

"Lord, I hate buttermilk," the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where he was going with this.

The farmer loudly proclaimed, "Lord, I hate lard." Now the pastor was really growing concerned.

Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, "And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw white flour." The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around
the room and saw that he wasn't the only one to feel uncomfortable.

Then the farmer added, "But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits.

So, Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen."

Within that prayer there is great wisdom for all when it comes to complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today.

Stay strong, my friends, because our LORD is mixing several things that we don't really care for, but something even better is going to come when HE is done with it. AMEN!

 So... there ya go. Hang in there, folks. And... Godspeed. ;)

2 Peter 3:8-9
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends... The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."