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Greetings. In these four posts, I am inviting you to consider how time can be your friend when so often, time is viewed as not being friendly or in some ways, being your enemy. The reason I bring this up is far too often, Christians are so hard and critical of themselves because they assume they should be better or further along in their walk with God. When they feel they are not further along, they can become critical of themselves falsely concluding they are failing.

When we consider the words of Jesus, he seemed to view time as His friend. He was never in a hurry and he seemed to always take time to do what he needed to do. His disciples did not like this nor others as Jesus seemed to feel He was always on time but others viewed his schedule as being tardy.

For example, when Lazarus died, his sisters were very angry at him for not being their when he had died. They could not understand why Jesus was not available a few days before and they were upset with him when he finally showed up. Other encounters in the Gospels portrays a Jesus who did ministry according to his way and his time and his disciples were upset with Him that He was not moving or doing things at a quicker pace.

I do believe that Satan does want Christians to be hurried, busy, always doing something, and overextended. Satan likes for us to be so focused on getting things done that we are stressed and worried about not getting something done. Today many Christians and busy, demanding of themselves, and impatient with how life is going. The fast pace of our society far too often is true within our current church and among the mindset of many Christians.

As a Christian therapist, I often encounter people who want a quick fix for their personal or relational problems. They want counseling to be resolved in just a few quick sessions. When I see people for the first time, I tell them resolving their issues may take some time to resolve their deep wounded pain and hurts and if they are looking for a quick fix, then I can refer them to someone else. Usually, this person does go somewhere else but then they do come back to see me stating their symptoms did go away for a brief time, but now their symptoms are back and they need deeper work. Unfortunately, some people think they have failed, that they should be better by now. I often remind them that a short route or quick fix usually does not last. Whenever people want something now, they usually will pay for it later due to their demand on a quick fix.

My hope for all of us is to remind ourselves that time can be your friend when you do become more patient with your growth. Time can be good and your friend when you add the important ingredients of love, grace, truth, support, and mentoring to the process. If you are viewing time as your enemy, you are probably doing life by yourself and you are not adding others to the process of growth. But good time and growth will happen to those who view time as a process and not as a quick fix. I always remind people that the tortoise won the race and not the rabbit.

Thanks for ready this post and I do hope and pray you will become more patient with yourself and the journey. If you need help becoming a more patient person, allow me to join you in your journey so I can help you reduce your insecure anxious feelings and help you becoming a more secure and confident person viewing time as your friend and not your enemy. I will be patient with you. Give me a call.