When things start to go well, all too often we begin to get frustrated that they aren’t going better. I know I do, anyway. Why is that? Why is it that when things are going well we want to do more? Is it that when we no longer worry about merely surviving, we think about thriving and become frustrated even though things are great in many ways? Is it simply human nature? Are we merely impatient? Are we attempting to run faster than we have strength? Or faster than the power of our intention will bring things to us?
When we get frustrated, we can’t do ‘everything’ we want to in the moment, we become despondent and begin to be ‘busy’ in an effort to disconnect ourselves from the feeling of frustration with which we are overcome. This has been my reality these past days. I have found myself stopped in many ways from doing what I seek to do. And though life is spectacular in many ways and everything that is necessary for my continued spiritual growth is present, there is still a desire to thrive MORE. Therein am I frustrated.
As I have sought to be ‘busy’, as I used to be, I realized that all I was really doing was resisting change and hiding from facing the fact that I may need to slow down… that I can’t do EVERYTHING I want to do RIGHT NOW. There are changes taking place in my life, and instead of embracing them and accepting this new season in my life, I focused on the future and sought to distract myself from the fact that things, though great, were not working out exactly as I wanted. Interestingly enough, they are happening as I had hoped — just more slowly than I hoped.
Why must we always seek to run? Is it the instant gratifying mentality of our day and age? It is not my life that stopped working, but rather my own desires which became convoluted. I have sought to speed up time and, in the process, forgot one of the most important lessons I have been taught over the course of my life: to wait upon the Lord.
Instead of allowing my life to unfold and the desires of my heart to manifest themselves in my life, I began to try to ‘force it’ and ‘make things happen’. And while there is place for a discussion on responsibility in creation, hard work, and the like, this is not the time for it. I am being responsible in my life. I am working hard. I am doing all that I can with the opportunities the Lord has given me and which I have drawn into my life. Everything is happening as it should, in the time-frame that it is supposed to. It is I who am attempting, in such moments, to run faster than I have strength. I am shooting beyond the mark, and therefore, it is I who must slow down. I must look in the mirror and stop looking outside myself for a solution to my own self-created frustrations.
A friend reminded me of this very lesson said a different way, saying, when you slow down you actually accomplish more than when you speed up. Slowing down brings a calm and purposeful serenity to the work at hand. Speeding up is at times beneficial, but only if it is accompanied by the proper and appropriate mindset and channeled towards a purpose which requires such speed. Usually, however, in matters of the heart and soul — and even finances — all things come with time. All we have to do is master ourselves and be patient as the path of our destiny unfolds before us.
Slow down. Allow the world to move around you and bring you, by the power of your intention, exactly what you need in your life, the moment you need it. Frustratingly, it is usually not a moment sooner! That is that hard part for me. I am still a part of this generation that wants everything now, and though I protest often to the contrary, there is still a bit of a desire for instant gratification in my soul. I wish there weren’t, but there is. I get frustrated when computers run slowly and don’t do exactly what I want when I want. I get frustrated when things don’t happen as quickly as I would like, and often forget to simply relax and let time do the work for me. I get frustrated when I can’t do everything I want when I want to do it. This, I realize though, is part of life — a part of it that we ALL experience.
When this happens, it is I who am in my own way. All I need do is slow down, do what matters most, and let the rest simply fall into place. All things will be proven in time, whether good or bad. Those things towards which we move, by the power of our intention, must inevitably come to pass.
May we all, therefore, wait upon the Lord and see the guiding hand of His light in our lives as it enlightens our mind, instructs our hearts, and expands our soul. Wait upon the Lord and allow time to do the work of your heart. Trust in His timing, and let your mind be not troubled, neither let it be afraid. Release the frustration of the present moment, and simply be present in it. Enjoy the journey and let the destination take care of itself…
