Trusting in the Slow Work of God
Raising a family is hard work. Millions of small decisions make up the balancing act required to create a healthy home life for children. My hat’s off to the women and men who commit their lives to their families. They should take comfort in the Gospel’s reminders that even Jesus grew to maturity in the midst of the messiness of a home.
On a recent visit to my mother, I noticed a prayer posted on her refrigerator door: “Patient Trust,”* written by the French Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. I stopped to read it closely, especially these stanzas:
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally, impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
I read it for the first time years ago, but this time, when marking progress in my journey seems as challenging as capturing sunlight in my palms, the prayer moved me into a pocket of acceptance, embracing the incompleteness and instability of the present.
How we end up as Christian men and women—more courageous, more loving, more accepting—is the result of millions of small decisions. This prayer reminds us that perfection is beyond reach today, but that’s OK because that isn’t the point of our journey.
We’re on a journey to trust in God’s promise. This journey will take years to unfold, and that’s a gift we can enjoy today.
*Translated by Michael Harter © The Institute of Jesuit Sources, St. Louis, MO. All rights reserved.
Used with permission.
Patient Trust
By Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
Above all, trust in the slow work of God
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of progress
that it is made by passing through
some states of instability —
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually — let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
Translated by Michael Harter © The Institute of Jesuit Sources, St. Louis, MO. All rights reserved.