Good Things Take Time

I was sitting in front of my computer, trying to write a completely different blog post. The words wouldn’t come.

I couldn’t piece together my thoughts into a coherent story.

I was stuck.

So, I did what every good writer does and quit. Well, I took a break from that particular post. Then I looked around the room for inspiration.

Because every good writer gets their inspiration from looking around the room, right?

Inspiration came in the form of a page-a-day calendar. You know those daily calendars with the pages you tear off every day? I impulsively bought two on Amazon for my daughters because they were cute and one was abandoned on my desk.

So I tore through the pages to get to today’s date.

And there was my inspiration. It was titled, Good things take time.

I audibly gasped. Can you think of a truer statement?

Is truer a word?

It is, I just googled it. And isn’t it weird that the company name “Google” is now commonly used as a verb? Nobody says, “let’s just Ask Jeeves it”. (Some of you won’t get that joke but trust me, it’s funny. Google it.)

Anyhoo….

I was at a writer’s conference last year and they expressed the same sentiment of good things take time.

One of the speakers said you need to get practice at hearing “no” so you are forced to work harder and harder. If you get an immediate yes, you won’t have the experience from the journey to get there.

Slow and steady.

Good things take time.

Just this morning my daughter was telling me about her frustrations of not being better at playing the clarinet. I had to tell her, listen, you’ve only been playing the clarinet for six months. It takes time, patience, and practice to be a good clarinet player.

Good things take time.

There are so many examples of waiting for a good thing in the Bible.

The world was waiting for a Savior after all. And that didn’t come quickly. But when it did come, it was good. So good.

Isaiah wrote about Jesus in approximately 700 B.C. Although not mentioned by name, Isaiah prophesied about the coming Savior in Isaiah 53.

Verses 4-5, “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

Isaiah continues in verses 7-8, “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away.”

I highly encourage you to read the entire chapter to get the full effect of what Isaiah predicts.

Isaiah didn’t get a chance to meet Jesus. Like I said, he wasn’t born for another 700 years! But the time Isaiah spent speaking and prophesying about Jesus was not wasted. Even though he didn’t know if he would meet this Savior who was coming to save the world, it didn’t stop him from taking the steps to ready himself and others for His arrival.

Good things take time.

David was anointed king but had to wait years to take his throne.

Noah built an ark for years before the flood water arrived.

Ruth mourned her husband and wondered if life would ever be good again. She waited and met her redeemer, Boaz.

Jacob worked for seven years to marry Rachel and then when he married the wrong woman had to wait seven more years to marry Rachel.

Sarah waited 90 years to become a mother.

Good things take time.

But how do you get through the period of waiting?

I recently went through a basement renovation.

The process start to finish took twenty-seven days. I was not good at waiting. I wanted everything to line up perfectly with no wasted days in between. I wanted the trim carpenter to come and high-five the carpet guy on the way out.

As cool as that would have been to witness, it didn’t happen.

For anyone who has done a home renovation, you understand how ridiculous (and impossible) this is.

But when it was done, it was worth it. It just took time to get everything right.

Good things take time.

What are you going through right now that is causing you to have to take your time and test your patience?

Any pregnant mama’s out there? Perfect example. Nine months of waiting for that sweet bundle to arrive. If that baby comes early, there could be problems. When you’re holding your newborn in your arms for the first time I’m sure you realized that good things take time.