Growth-Time

Time is a great healer we are often told. Give it time. Wait a little while. Have patience. A community or individuals that live by this kind of wisdom are really blessed. One cannot be efficient with people.  We need to pay the price of waiting. Often we are too quick to thrown in the towel.  We often miss the blossoming of an individual or community if we are too impatient.  Time allows for clarity, it allows for the dust to settle, it allows for understanding to take place. It is often true that individuals that we encounter who are difficult and stubborn can become true friends at the end if time is given to allow the relationship to develop.  Seek first to understand and then to be understood says Stephen Covey.  Often we want to be understood before we understand and this often leads to tensions.  We should resist the speedy route of finding solutions. Stephen Covey says, fast is slow and slow is fast.  If we are too quick to find solutions then what we often come up with lacks depth.  We cannot gloss over challenges but we need to ask God our Heavenly Father to intervene in these difficult and often challening situations.
Growing towards love and understanding takes time. Learning to forgive others and oursleves takes time. Learning to say I am sorry, espeically when we get it terribly wrong takes courage and time. Learning to accept others takes time and ultimately accepting ourselves.  What is important is not to give up or lose faith.  When we give time to issues or people we are able to understand  the other and the issues involved.
Fr. Barnabas Nqindi