His Pace, His Speed

“Learning to wait on God’s timing –and having the patience to follow his lead rather than running ahead of him –is essential to those who are committed to seeing their faith journey through to the end. God seldom rushes things along. Getting used to his pace will help you in the long run.”~ Essentials for Life For Women by Marcia Ford ~

Recently in my life’s endeavors I made what I called “every hour on the hour” prayer list of things to pray for my daughter and each member of her family. Trying to pick things that were vital to their Christian walk I inserted in the 5:00 in the morning slot “walking with the Lord and learning how to follow.”


As everyone knows the first thing we do when we get up in the morning is walk. We may not get up very gracefully but we still eventually will get to walking. It’s a trait we have to learn physically as well as spiritually.


One time at the clinic where I work with the physicians in their billing we were told we needed to allow them to crawl before they could walk. Kind of an odd request as it seemed like a waste of time but if you think about it though crawling is a first step in walking.


A young baby after learning how to roll over on their stomach discovers they can use their hands and feet to get around. The more they do it the faster they become. Soon you find yourself having to child proof your house as they begin to climb up on the areas where they’ve crawled. Next they discover they can take a step when they are standing. From there, well good luck keeping up with them.


That is what we need as Christians, to learn to walk. Too often we stay in the crawling stage and are content to not go any further. Then there are those of us who learned to walk early and a little too well as we are guilty of running ahead of God. Once way ahead of Him we stop long enough to turn around and give Him the instructions of what we think we need and want.


Wrong way to follow! We need to learn to pace ourselves, to run at His pace, His speed and not own. It’s hard sometimes because we are such an instant, fast, got to have it now society that the thought of taking the snail mail route is just unacceptable.


During this time of living with the bone cancer in my back I was the snail in a group of rabbits that wanted to go quickly. Many times I had to tell my husband and grandkids and friends that I just couldn’t keep up with their speed. Finally they got the message I was doing the best I could. Each one respected that and graciously took it at my pace.


Once I got back to work my co-workers told me they wanted me to start walking with them again everyday on our breaks. I was informed they would be willing to go at my speed. I agreed to their offer and for the first time I got to be the one in the lead as everyone did what they could to slow down to my pace. Occasionally they would find themselves passing me so they would have to stop and wait for me to catch up. Surprisingly enough we got where we needed to go. It may have been slower than usual but it did wonders to get out and walk.


We need to have that same attitude with God every hour on the hour, “God I want to stroll with you. We’ll go at your pace. I don’t care if it’s slower than what I want to do.” Wow, what a beautiful thing we can have with God as our walking partner. The art of striding is an art we all need to learn but we also need to learn how to follow.


Once we take that first step, well then, “Good luck in keeping up with us.” That’s the way it needs to be as the lead position never changes. We may get to walk beside Him at times. At other times we may even be carried by Him through the rough times, the slippery slopes, and dangerous ravines but the lead position never changes.


It’s our day to day task to look and ask, “Are we getting ahead of Him?” If we are we need to stop and wait for Him to catch up, or better yet go back to where He is. After all it’s His pace, His speed and our trust and ability to follow that will get us to where we need to be. It doesn’t work to get around behind God and shove Him in the back when we approach rough roads and tell Him, “You lead now” then when the roads are smooth and open we take over being the lead car.


No, no, no it’s His Pace, His Speed. Repeat that over and over again and live it every hour on the hour!

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing