Reflection:
My first business partner and good friend, Tom, always said, “Good things come to those who wait.” I’d follow with, “Yes, but while we wait, we need to be working our butts off.”
Some 40 years ago, that phrase was his way of telling me to calm down. We had a perfect partnership, I was the pusher, the growth guy; he was the calm, steady force. I don’t know how many times he watched me get frustrated with him for not being fully on board with our next great push, then said it almost in passing, “Good things come to those who wait.”
He knew it pushed my buttons.
And today, I know he was right.
We live in an age of immediacy. But most things worth building take time, and the tension between acting now and waiting for fruit is one of the great spiritual disciplines.
We live in the middle of some of the most fertile farmland in the U.S., and the farmer plants in the spring and harvests in the fall.
He doesn’t dig up the seeds every day to check on them, but he doesn’t plant once and sit in the house either.
He tends.
He waters.
He weeds.
He watches the sky.
Intentional action paired with patient trust is a powerful combination.
I always write from experience.
Soul Search:
- Am I acting with diligence but then undermining myself with impatience?
- What area of my life requires me to both work harder and trust more deeply?
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop.” — James 5:7 (NIV)
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
