Don't move!

The hardest part of progress in work or life is staying in place. When we’ve agreed to move forward, it is most difficult to wait for the next step. Sometimes we are part of a group that has been called to move, but here we have been parked. Sometimes we sense an open door ahead, but it is not yet in view. There seems nothing we can do to hasten an advance.

So we sit.

We fidget.

We wait.

We pray.

Eventually we stop contending and become resigned.

We rest.

And then it seems that the suffering of waiting is over. The project finds a catalyst that propels it forward. The group takes a direction that we did not anticipate. Maybe the door of opportunity creaks open, or a companion flings it wide for our entry. 

But the new vista may look nothing like what we had expected. It is more, or less than hoped for.

Seeing the road ahead, the preparation of waiting and suffering makes sense. We have been prepared for a new assignment or character quality by abandoning our own ideas and plans. Like Moses after 40 years of herding sheep in the desert, we are willing to go where previously we would have refused.

What are we suffering to prepare us for a wonderful future of unexpected opportunity?

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*May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God. Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. Galatians 6:14-18 NIV