There are some people whose default setting seems to be impatience. They zoom in and out of lanes in congested traffic; try to be the first off the plane, even though they know there’ll be a long wait to claim their luggage; honk their car horn at you if you don’t take off like a racehorse when the traffic light turns green; drum their fingers against anything they can find when they have to wait; punch the lift button repeatedly in an attempt to make it move faster.

They remind us of hummingbirds. These tiny birds can fly forward, then hover in mid-air going nowhere. Their tiny wings can move up to seventy-five times each second! A hummingbird’s average life span is only three years; compare that to an eagle, which can live for thirty years. When an eagle flies, it conserves its energy by riding on the God-given wind currents. The message here is: when we draw on the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, we have more stamina to keep going, and go higher than we ever dreamed.

One pastor said he was a ‘stress-distributing machine’ when he was younger, and everybody around him felt it. One day one of his children said to him, ‘Daddy, I’ll try to hurry up and tell you this.’ He replied, ‘It’s okay, honey, you can speak slowly.’ After a long pause, he had an ‘aha’ moment when his child said, ‘Then – listen – slowly!’

Going fast won’t make God move any faster, and our hurry might even mean that we miss something He wants to say to us. If you’re inclined to be impatient, try slowing down and letting God set the pace.

What Now?

Turn times of waiting into times of thanksgiving – if you need to wait in a queue, at traffic lights, on hold, etc., use that time to think of 10 things you want to thank God for. If you’re still waiting, try thinking of 10 more!