Ten days ago, I noticed my hyacinths peeping up from the ground. Ah, the flowers will be blooming in no time, I thought.
When I checked today to see how much they had grown, I was disappointed that so little had changed. Where are the flowers already?!
It was a vivid reminder that growth takes time.
But it’s difficult to value slow growth in an instant society. We’re used to being able to get what we want when we want it.
Ironically, the inability to get everything we want quickly and efficiently has been one of the lingering effects of the pandemic. Errands and tasks I used to be able to handle in a day or two now have to be scheduled weeks in advance.
Honestly, this has been a source of frustration, and I have to reset my expectations regularly. I’ve been asking myself, am I going to moan and complain about how life used to be smooth and simple or choose to adjust to the new realities?
But our desire for speed and efficiency isn’t limited to our errands and chores. It seeps into our spiritual life too.
When I added Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction to my winter reading list, I wasn’t anticipating the impact it would have on my heart. For a book first published decades ago, it’s uncannily relevant.
In the opening chapter, Peterson mentions the three categories of difficulties we face as Christians: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Of the three, he thinks the world is the most difficult to recognize because it looks different for each generation.
He writes,
One aspect of world that I have been able to identify as harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Our attention spans have been conditioned by thirty-second commercials. Our sense of reality has been flattened by thirty-page abridgments.
Our spiritual growth can’t be acquired all at once. Rather it comes gradually as we walk with the Lord over the course of days, weeks, months, and years. There are no shortcuts or growth hacks.
What happens when we embrace slow growth?
Earlier this week, I sat with a group of women from my church, and we read the entire book of 2 Corinthians aloud. On the surface, this was an inefficient activity. We could have listened to the book on 1.5 speed or skipped the practice altogether and gotten straight to the work of studying the book.
But as we took the time to read through the book, chapter by chapter, we began to notice themes. Suddenly, this letter, written more than 2000 years ago, seemed to hit a little too close to home, and we were reminded that there’s nothing new under the sun.
It’s tempting to think that life is all about to-do lists and maximizing efficiency. If we’re willing to look beyond what is temporary, we will see that the trials and difficulties we experience in this life are preparing us for eternity.
As Paul writes in 2 Cor 4:17-18:
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
O Lord, give us eyes to see that efficiency is not a virtue and that our growth is not instantaneous. May we be people who desire to walk with you day by day.
Shelley
Oh my goodness I know I am way late in commenting on this, but Peterson's "Long Obedience" was BIG for me and helped me realize how instantaneous I thought my faith needed to be! Thank you for sharing!
I love this.