Process.

I really hate process. I don’t like it at all. [hence that first sentence]

I prefer the beginning or the end. I want someone to tell me where the race ends and then leave me alone until I get there. People say “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. Have you heard that saying before? Yeah, I really hate that too.

But apparently God doesn’t. He’s all about the process. And that makes me roll my eyes. Not in a disrespectful way. In a “really? are you sure?” kind of way. [Hey, if I’m not honest here, why write at all? If you want sunshine and butterflies, look for Pollyanna’s blog.]

He cares about who we become, but it seems that He cares as much, if not more, about how we become that person and what we gain through the getting there. He wants me to learn in the race, not just win it.

I was tutoring my new math buddy yesterday. We were reviewing/ correcting a test. He had gotten #16 correct, but didn’t show his work. I said, “Buddy [let’s just call him that], how did you get that?”. His answer sounds so 15-year-old-boy-who-hates-math : “I guessed. Good guess, huh?”

I wasn’t mad at him for making a good guess. It’s kinda like winning the lottery. Well done.

I was concerned. Because even though he had gotten the right answer, he had learned nothing. And it was totally necessary that he learn y=mx+b and how to find the slope in order for him to pass the next chapter. So we went over it. We worked through the process. I was never mad at him for guessing, but I’m so proud of him for learning how to get it.

So it has me wondering …. maybe the process is really preparation? …. maybe the destination I think I’m going for is really is just the starting line? …. maybe I should quit seeking the end of the race and just run?

Romans 5:1-5 (in The Message version)

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Amen to that.

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