Speed?

Is it better to do something quickly or slowly? Obviously it depends on the subject matter, but almost anything can be done too quickly or too slowly. If you are trying to get away from a dangerous animal, you may want to get away quickly, but going too quickly might cause it to chase you; not an easy question to answer.

Spiritually speaking, we usually do better when we go slowly. Rushing spiritual matters can often (if not always) cause us to get ahead of ourselves. Over the last fifteen years I have frequently asked myself what my life would be like if I had come to understand the Catholic faith earlier. Would I have gotten married and had five wonderful children (and now two grandchildren)? Would I have become a priest (and gotten special permission to do so from Pope Benedict XVI)? Would I have done something entirely different with my life?

Those sixteen years of serving as a protestant minister seemed like a long time, but now they sort of blur together in one big chunk. One part of me thinks it would have been better to have skipped all those years of trouble, and just head straight to the finish line, and then I realize two important things. First, I realize that few people would say to me "you've been where I am so I know I can talk to you and you'll understand me". Secondly, if I had converted much earlier than I did, then I likely would not have become a priest (the allowance for married men in the priesthood in the western Church is only open to former Anglican priests, and I did not start out as an Anglican).

Thus, hindsight is not always "20/20". Sometimes, when we look back we actually cloud the issues because we do not know all the things that God was working on in our lives. He knows what we need and when we need it. If you want something to "go faster" in your life, you need to realize that it might actually be to your detriment. Yes, you can pray for things to be quicker (as long as their is nothing sinful in the action), but every one of us must come to grips with the fact that God already has decided how quickly to answer your prayers. Trust Him in all things.