The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Proverbs 21:5, NIV
Traditionally, I set my goals and review my vision throughout the month of January instead of trying to get everything in place by January 1. I like to linger in the feeling of the New Year as long as I can. Over the years, I realized that it made my year a whole lot better. This year, one of my intentions is to trust the timing of my life.
As I get older, my body doesn’t move the way it used to do. I used to be frustrated about it until I realized the benefits of taking my time. Yesterday, I was out and about exploring my new city here in Augusta, GA. At first, I was determined to get through my shopping as fast as possible. Then, my back started to ache a bit. I had to slow down to ease up the pounding that fast walking on concrete floors cause.
When I slowed down physically, my breathing slowed. As I took more deep breaths, my brain started to function better. Just having my brain work better was an awesome benefit, but then something else happened. I put back everything that I intended to buy except what I needed.
One of the reasons I prefer shopping online is that you can see how much you are spending in your cart immediately. Every time I see my cart totals online, I inevitably put back items that I never intended to buy. You know the ones that pop up when we shop online. However, in a store, when I am in a hurry, I tend to put things in the cart that catch my eyes. When I get to the checkout, I purchase them absentmindedly or because I don’t want to be embarrassed about changing my mind. Yesterday, I didn’t care. In every store, before I got in line, I slowed down, breathed, and then let my oxygenated brain do the work. Eventually, I’d put everything back that I didn’t need, and I saved over $200.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the items that I put back, I will need eventually, but I trust that they probably will be on sale again when I need them most. Because I slowed down, I was able to resist every one of the “On Sale” signs in every store. Today, as I was reflecting for Love Speaks Daily, I heard the phrase “It’s about time.”
I am not sure what that will mean for you, but what it means for me is this. The timing of our lives is important. Not everything has to be done right now, not everything has to be at lightning speed, and not everything is an emergency.
Also, the time that is most important is God’s time. Whether it is a shopping trip or the vision for your life, with God’s timing, you can’t go wrong. As we are reminded in Proverbs 21:5, when we try to do things on our own time, we often end up in poverty. Poverty is not just about money. Poverty can point to any missed opportunity, missed moment, or missed blessing because we were in too much of a hurry or too wasteful with our time.
One of the best ways to stay out of poverty is to trust God’s timing. God’s pace always leads to the win.
Prompt for Thought: Where in your life do you need to trust God’s timing more?
Prayer for the Journey: God, thank you for perfect timing. You have never failed us when we trust your pace and timing. Thank you for all the times you redeemed time when we wasted time or missed your perfect time. Help us to continue to attune our hearts and our human clocks to your eternal clock. In Jesus’ name, Amen.