Urgency is good and patience is good,
but both can be misused and lead to destruction.
This is the truth of many things.
There is a time to be patient and a time to be urgent
With wisdom and practice one knows the difference
Urgency helps inspire a call to action. It brings us to a boiling point and pushes us in the direction that we need to be headed. We get impatient and we want action.
Patience tells us to turn off the urgency. Action has been taken. Processes have been set in motion. Now time and the continuation of the processes will see things through to the goal.
Lately I have been realizing a lot of things. I've realized that there are steps to maturity and that those steps often take a great deal of time. However, I also know that the steps to maturity take more than time -- they take effort, practice (repetition of actions you wish to make permanent,) and wise choices.
I believe that I am beginning to understand when to be patient and when to be urgent. As this understanding takes shape in my mind I know that I need to continue to act rightly to continue the process, but I also need to be patient so I do not run it into the ground or grow weary with the time and give up the effort. Eventually, the processes will be complete and I will have rich wisdom and practiced habits that will guide me to the right times for both being patient and urgent.
Both urgency and patience are great things when used at the right times, it's knowing when the right time is that's the hard part :-).
Posted by: Nate at July 6, 2005 09:42 AMThat's a good thing to realize and something that definitely needs God's wisdom to understand and know and keep balenced. Just be careful not to equate laziness, fear, or a defeated attitude with the inaction of patience.
I also don't think patience is not acting and urgency is. Patience is action too because you are continuing what you have said to been started in urgency. These processes don't just continue on their own. Maturity doesn't just happen on its own. In patience you are still working on whatever goal was set forth. You are still acting.
Posted by: Jessica at July 6, 2005 02:58 PMI totally second what JB has to say. I really think patience sometimes requires more action (the action of restraint and contentment)than "reacting" to something...blasted, have to run!
Posted by: JennyJ at July 6, 2005 05:49 PMExactly, Jessica. As I said, 'the continuation of the processes will see things through to the goal.' And '...I need to continue to act rightly to continue the process.'
Being patient implies action. It is one the one hand a cessation of urgency, and on the other hand it is the continuation of the process set in place by the initial action (which was inspired by the sense of urgency.)
To put this in metaphorical terms patience means that you don't continue to turn the ignition once the car's engine is running. Instead you drive, which is a process that needs to be continued if you'd like to use your car to arrive at your intended destination.
I guess a problem with my explanation in all of this is my use of terms. I used 'Action' to mean 'initial act of starting processes,' but the word choice gets confusing because there are often many other little actions that must be maintained to continue the process.
Posted by: David at July 7, 2005 02:24 AM