Last week I shared the prayer Patient Trust by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ with an invitation to sit with this prayer and reflect on it. I’ve found myself returning to it throughout the week, and each time, a different line has captured my attention. Today, I want to share one that I’ve been reflecting most recently.

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to read through the Bible in a year. Then life happened.

Somewhere around Valentine's Day I realized I was a week behind and did what many of us do, I tried to binge read to catch up. But somewhere in the middle of trying to check the box I stopped and asked myself a question:

Was I actually learning? Or was I simply trying to get back on schedule?

That question changed something for me.

Instead of focusing on getting through the Bible I decided to let God's Word get through to me. I slowed down. I began spending more time with a single passage, a single verse, even a single thought. I found myself reading less, but reflecting more.

The same has been true with this prayer.

My spiritual director had encouraged me weeks earlier to pray for waiting - not pray while waiting, but pray for waiting. If I'm honest I didn't really know what she meant. Then my mentor sent me the prayer Patient Trust and something clicked and each time I read it a different line captures my attention.

This week it was this:

"We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages."

Those words felt uncomfortably familiar.

I've always enjoyed accomplishing things. Setting goals, checking things off, seeing progress. But what if the intermediate stages aren't obstacles to where we're going? What if they're actually where the formation happens?

Maybe the invitation isn't to get through life faster. Maybe it's to become the person God is forming us to be while we're living it.

This week, notice the moments when you're racing toward what's next.

When you catch yourself thinking, "I should be further along by now," pause.

Take a slow breath.

Instead of focusing on the destination, ask yourself:

"What is God forming in me today?"

Then stay there for a moment. Resist the urge to rush to the next task, the next milestone, or the next season.

God rarely hurries His work. Perhaps we don't need to hurry ours either.

Lord,

Teach me to accept the waiting. When I become impatient, remind me that Your timing is different from mine.

Help me slow down, breathe deeply, and notice the quiet work You are doing in my heart. Keep me from racing toward the finish line of who I hope to become.

Instead, help me trust that You are already forming me—one day, one experience, and one faithful step at a time.

Give me the patience to remain present, the wisdom to recognize Your hand at work, and the courage to trust the process, even when I can't yet see the outcome.

Thank You for never rushing Your work in me.

Amen.

The Christian life isn't a race to the finish. It's a lifelong journey of becoming.

This week, don't measure your progress by how quickly you're getting there.

Instead, notice the quiet, faithful work God is doing in you today.

The Aligned Life is a community built on peace, love, joy, and commitment to family and self. Together we seek to live aligned with God’s purpose in everyday life.

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