“Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”

I read a great article in the New York Times on the American distance runner, Lauren Fleshman, and what she is doing now at the age of 34, as her competitive running days are waning.  She has taken on trying to improve the sport for women across the full spectrum of training, nutrition, opportunities, sponsorship, pay and how women are represented in the sport.  At the end of the article she was quoted as saying, “I realize you can’t expect people to care just because you are fast.  You have to bring them with you.”  It was a nice double meaning for someone who is as physically fast as she is, but that was not what she meant.  Her message is that just because we are fast to ideas or areas that are new to others, we might be better off to slow down and let others catch up and then come alongside us to get them to where we want them to go.  Too many times we will see people sprint away from everyone else because they think they have to move faster than others, but when they do that they run the real risk of not only leaving others behind, but leaving them feeling alienated and disregarded.

Jesus was great at getting people to slow down and not rush into things too fast.  He tried to explain to the Disciples more than once that His Kingdom will come in due course, in God’s perfect timing, not in the timing that they desired.  He even tried to teach them in the worst of times, that they should just sit still while He went into the garden and prayed.  He knows our human condition and our impetuous nature filled with the desire to go and try and hurry up to fix something or get to a decision or outcome.  Maybe today we are being told to slow down a bit and let somethings come to us versus try and get so far ahead.  Sitting and praying about what we think should be our next move will help ensure that the next move is the right one.

Reference:  Matthew 26:36 (New Living Translation)