Urgency vs. Patience

My mom often says to me, “Have a sense of urgency.”  Hurry up.  Things won’t get done on time if you sit around lollygagging your time away.  In a way, this is an extension of what my grandmother would tell her:  “Induljatok!” – Hungarian for “Get going!”

I have struggled with having this sense of urgency my whole life.  Part of it is probably genetic from both sides.  In my family, we do things very deliberately, and very accurately.  There’s probably a measure of OCD thrown into the mix.  My parents had to be very precise in their work, so it was a habit that both my brother and I picked up quite easily.

When we went to New England over Labor Day weekend, our tour director advised us that in one town, they had no sense of urgency, so ask for your lunch check right when you receive your food.  I told my mom, this is the town for me.

There are times when it is good to have a sense of urgency:  when you are facing a deadline, when you have an important appointment, or when there is some sort of an emergency.  There are also times when it is more advisable to take your time.  Journeys of faith usually fall into the latter category.  I make sure to mention to people who want to go through the RCIA program that this is their journey.  It goes at each person’s own pace.  The important thing is to discern how God is impacting their life at this point in their life.  What is He calling them to do at this moment?  What is His will for them where they are right now?

Perhaps during hectic times of our lives, it would be beneficial to slow down, even stop for a moment, and ask ourselves, what does God want of me at this moment?  How would He want me to act or react in this situation?  What would Jesus do in this situation?  And, at times when things are not moving along as quickly as we might like, we can remember that patience is a skill that perhaps we need to develop further.