You Can't Fight It, Only Ride It

There comes a point in each person’s life when the topic of patience seems to be an issue. Sometimes we don’t have enough patience and demand our way, plan, agenda, and so forth to the point of really upsetting people. Then sometimes we are too patient and end up letting other people control our emotions, decision making, and thought processes because we don’t think we’re extending enough patience. Either way, we are not patient enough to the point of rushing people, or we are too patient to the point of being taken advantage of. I think I have heavily experienced both. Where is the middle ground?
At times it is really important to act quickly and be impatient. For example, if your house caught on fire in the middle of the night you probably wouldn’t dilly-dally around and try to sleep for a few more hours. If you tried that you would most likely die; a big consequence for not acting quickly enough. People would not be mad at you for trying to get them out of the house; they wouldn’t accuse you of being impatient.
Then at other times, it is really important to be patient and move slowly. Let’s say you were building a house, and someone was trying to get you to by-pass pouring the foundation because it would add an extra week onto the housing project. “Oh it doesn’t matter; no one will ever see the foundation anyways.” Wrong. You can’t build a solid house without a foundation, and this is something that should be done correctly. You can’t skip the steps and expect it to be complete. For completeness to occur or for a house to be correctly built for the purposes intended, there is patience involved; missing something as important as the foundation would cause the whole project to be useless. Thus, patience is important here.

So why is this applicable to our daily lives you might ask? Well, there are times when we need to be both patient and impatient. I am sure you know this. Discernment and faith are the keys to understanding when these times are. I think God takes us through certain situations and extends our patience or impatience for a reason; even if it was something that we didn’t necessarily “see” or intend for. The thing that you wait for or hope to receive at the end is something completely different than what you would have ever expected. As Carrie Underwood puts it, “Oh, some pages turned, Some bridges burned, But there were, Lessons learned.” There is a point and purpose to every situation and difficult season that you go through. And sometimes you need to be patient through those times in the desert to really understand, feel, and truly be able to directly pin-point the lessons God has wanted you to learn. You can’t speed this up or slow this down.

Without taking the time, the risk, and being faithful and obedient, you wouldn’t understand the depths of the lesson. Just because we do the right thing and feel like we are going exactly where God wants us to go, it doesn’t mean he won't break you or is going to automatically give you what you think. But, he will give you something that is much more eternal and everlasting than anything on this earth; more of Him. You can’t skip the tears, the heart-ache, the pain, or the intended purpose. You can’t by-pass the time it takes to get to this location; it would be like trying to drive to China from the US in 45 minutes give or take some traffic. It doesn’t happen.   Sometimes it even takes time to be released from feelings and plans and no other person can say or do anything to speed this up. Most likely, people won’t understand this and will expect you to get over things as fast as they did or to move on from certain situations because it’s logical. But you can’t move on or be released because God hasn’t given you that freedom yet. He still has more to teach you no matter what other people do or think.  You have to accept the process; it's not a bad thing.
The point of all of this is even if you look back and feel like you have wasted a lot of time on situations that didn’t necessarily pan out exactly how you would have wanted, you did get something out of it. You never waste time by loving people, stripping yourselves of the nasty habits and thought processes, and walking step by step with God in the midst of a dry season. At the end of that path however, it is not a promised thing that the destination will not cause you more pain or throw you for a loop. However, it is a promised thing that there is a new destination and a completely new uncharted path. The same things don’t work anymore, and you’re ready to leave the nest and start a new beginning. There is no point in having regret or wishing you would have done things better. What’s done is done and as Jesus says, “It is finished.”

No matter where you’re at or what you’re going through, Jesus is your constant. As a friend described to me recently, “walking with Jesus is like surfing.” The waves come and go, sometimes you ride them and sometimes you let them pass you by. No matter what, those waves still come and you make the choice as to what to do with them. Sometimes you can’t pass them by, and sometimes you don’t catch the ones that are promising. Sometimes the current snatches you for a bit and you almost drown, and sometimes you have the most epic ride of your life. Regardless, He is our ocean. For that reason, we can trust and feel confident that he has it under control. The ocean is a little bit stronger than our measly bodies. We can’t fight it, only ride it!
Carrie Underwood-"Lessons Learned"