Patient Waiting by Christian Union

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 20, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 32.

Patient Waiting.

By Christian Union

It is the long fight which brings out character and educates men to make the best use of the victory when it is achieved. A sharp, short, brilliant campaign often results in a great waste of success and loss of opportunity because the victors have not gained the steadiness and wisdom to hold success with a strong, wise hand; the men who come out of the long campaign scarred and travel worn know the cost of victory, and spend their hard-won fortune temperately. In every man's affairs there come times of waiting; the problem cannot be solved, it must be worked out; the difficulties cannot be banished by energetic action, they must slowly fade as the mists roll away from the sky of one who has been anxiously watching for the sun through long and weary days of cloud and rain.

There are times when our affairs are taken out of our own hands and we are compelled to stand aside and wait patiently for the slow movement of progress. We have sown the seed, but we cannot force it to immediate harvest; we must let Nature set her shoulder to our work and do it for us. Growth is the most natural process in the world; the only really normal and healthy process; and yet it is the hardest for which to wait. When our projects move slowly, we chafe and fume in discontent; when our affairs get entangled, instead of quietly waiting for the unraveling of the snarl, we continually thrust our hands into the tangle, and make it tenfold worse. This is a world in which the best things are grown, not made; and he, who wants the best and most enduring things must be willing to pay the price of patience for them. Wait patiently, and rejoice that you have things worth waiting for.—Christian Union.