If You're Still Under Pressure to Get it Done NOW...

We've talked before about everyone wanting everything done NOW. Today's thoughts are for all of us who are in that situation right now.

The year is drawing to a close, and maybe you've got goals to meet. Whether you work for yourself, or for someone else, you're under the gun. If so, take a deep breath now and remember this:

Ask and it shall be given to you

Well, that's all well and good...only we want it, no we need it, NOW, not when God decides to give it. 

But wait. This is where patience comes in.  Can’t we just learn this lesson and relax?  If not, ask for the grace to do so. 

God won’t hold back grace; just answers.

Yes, He holds back answers sometimes. But so what? That's His business, not yours. Your business is to just, well, go about your business.

And if you can't go about your business, trusting that the help you need will come - albeit in His good time - then summon up your faith and remember that He will give you the grace you need.

That grace might be the grace you need to calm down, trust in Him, even get your project done, or your solution back to your customer, or whatever it is that you need to do NOW. It might be the grace to get to work and meet your year-end goals without becoming discouraged or despondent.

Or it might be the grace to simply trust in Him, even if you don't get the project done to your boss's satisfaction, or you can't get the solution to your customer on time - and you're forced to live with the consequences of that. After all, it may not even be your fault, but you know that part of taking responsibility for things means that you have to sometimes live with the consequences of a situation that you really didn't create or a problem you didn't cause.

You do know that God is somehow trying to help, maybe trying to teach you something, or help you develop patience, or just wanting to strengthen your faith and trust in Him. You know that, right?

Yes, He will give you the grace you need one way or another.

Meanwhile, here's that prayer we said last time we talked about this - one more time - to help you when you're anxious for His help and He's not responding right NOW:

“Dear Jesus, I do trust You for the guidance of my life, and to You I have long ago entrusted it. But at times the dice of life seem loaded against me, and it looks like a useless thing to try to play the game of life straight. I call on You, and You give no least sign of listening. I implore You, and I seem to fail to catch Your attention. It is hard to go ahead then – and You know it is. But all the same I want to prove my love for You then, and so I humbly beg Your grace to be always patient with You.” (Father LeBuffe, SJ)