Do you take it easy — at times, perhaps, too easy — or are you hard (often too hard) on yourself?

There has to be an in-between.

That in-between, that mediator, is Jesus.

God’s pace brings His grace.

There are the extremes: on one end, a hyper pace; on the other, the cardinal sin of sloth.

Move too fast and you crash. Go too slow and you’re run over.

How about God’s pace?

For we stress when we press ahead of His timetable.

That doesn’t mean we procrastinate, which is the opposite of His Will — and can get us into trouble on multiple levels (temporal and spiritual).

No, we go with the flow of His Holy Spirit.

That gets us to do what we need to do and go where we need to go.

Often the destination is not quite what we had in mind; it is simply the right direction. And challenging that, coming to a standstill out of sheer laziness, is not very good — nor is racing ahead of the design of Jesus.

Notice how God moves. It is very consistent. It is persistent. It’s directional — always the opposite of entropy.

That means it always works to pull things together (whereas the natural inclination of entropy is for things to fall apart).

Take a plant. We all know that seeds are planted and a seedling emerges at the right time — when the correct amount of warmth, moisture, and sun is available, causing the plant to unfold in a way that is too slow to see and yet miraculous in its final result (bearing beauty and fruit).

Look always to that which bears fruit.

If one is slothful in taking care of a plant — negligent — it withers and dies.

If one “pushes” a seed too hard — overfertilizing, perhaps, overwatering — there is the same result; the seedling will rot or burn itself out.

The same is true of us when we race in daily life and can’t slow down (or pick ourselves up) enough to feel His Presence.

The correct pace and timing come only if we grant ourselves the time to pray. We’re never too busy to do that. As the saying goes, we’re too busy not to. With prayer, we move in accordance with what He intends and accomplish more than if we’d rushed in earnest about the task.

As in everything, the key is balance.

Note that God doesn’t much regard our concepts of time.

In God’s time frame, everything — past, present, and future — is now.

 [resources: Michael Brown retreat, Saturday, February 2]