GIVE … By The Spirit™
Patience is the Fastest Way to Spiritual Growth
© 2012 Tonya M. Evans
October 6, 2012
Patience has allowed me to take one step at a time, never stretching beyond the next logical step and trusting in Divine timing that EVERYTHING is going to work out for the best. ~ Mastin Kipp, TheDailyLove.com
One of the most essential and valuable gifts we can ever GIVE to ourselves is time.
Time to get over, under, around or through the inevitable challenges of life. Time to reflect. Time to learn the lessons. Time to receive the blessings. Time to prepare, strengthen and mature so the next time we face challenges (and we will, it’s called life!) we “know better” and have the opportunity to “do better”, as Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou say.
“Time” doesn’t mean forever. There’s no particular equation to figure out how long it takes to recover, to heal, to mature or to transform. In fact, some of my greatest transformations and most significant lessons have happened relatively quickly in the scheme of things. Selah.
But growth is a process, and it’s cyclical. And our most authentic, transformative growth occurs in the context of divine timing. Because when God wants you to move (or doesn’t) you know it!
But because the Creator has a plan and a purpose for our lives that sometimes doesn’t look like the life we planned for ourselves (or, worse yet, that others planned), our perception of what should happen and when it should happen can be at odds with the Divine.
Of course free will allows us to choose “left” or “now” when God’s leading is “right” or “wait”. But God’s plan is always best. However, because we get to choose and therefore “co-create” with God, we have the power to rely on God’s way … or to go it alone. But guess what? God is the author and inventor of patience. God will wait. Because the lesson will be learned; it’s your divine assignment.
The best examples we have are in nature; the change of the seasons and the process of sowing and reaping. There is a season for everything and completing a season takes time. No matter how often you check the day, or week, or month after you plant an apple seed, you won’t be able to pick any apples, I assure you. This is true even though it is an apple seed’s divine nature to grow and to bear fruit. But the process of growth from seedling to mature tree that bears good fruit is divinely inspired and divinely timed. God’s will will be done in God’s own time.
So give yourself TIME. Time gives you space to breathe, to get still, to get clear. Time is often the best gift you can GIVE yourself. And as Mastin Kipp explains:
“Patience allows me to put my trust in the Divine and never make desperate short-term choices; be it for money or success or fame. Those things are not my concern. My concern is staying in an obedient state of active surrender to Divine will – showing up, but letting go.”
Read the rest of Mastin Kipp’s article Its True the Patient Path is the Fastest Way and give yourself the GIFT of time.
Read about Tonya’s 100 days of Wisdom™ Project
Follow her on Twitter @WisdomWhispers and the hashtag #100daysofwisdom for more reflections on life, love and the wisdom of Spirit!
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As individuals with complex and exciting personalities, we find ourselves getting lost in a series of work, school, children, friends and families. As good people, we often give our whole selves to helping others; out of love for our families. After an exhausting days work, we can get lost, compromising ourselves for a quick break of a television show, and then quickly off to bed to recuperate some of the steam we lost through out the day. We love everyone in our life, but something has got to change. Have you ever looked into the mirror at the beginning of your race against the clock and asked “who am I?”
