A few years ago my son in law was finishing the basement in their house. I helped him hang sheet rock and then we started taping and applying the compound to the joints to make the wall smooth where pieces of sheet rock were against one another. If you aren’t familiar with how sheet rock is made, the edges are beveled to allow for the compound to be applied and you apply the tape and compound to make it smooth. I showed him a few, how to apply thin coats of compound and then after it had dried, sand the joint smooth and put another coat on, and told him it would likely take 3 or 4 coats. They lived about 2 hours away and it was a couple weeks before we were back at their house and I saw the work he had done. Well, it appeared like he had gotten in a hurry, applied too thick of a coat and didn’t sand it because he figured as long as he got the joints mostly smooth it was no big deal. Except, if you apply the compound too thickly when it dries, it cracks and that’s what had happened. He complained about how it looked, so we had to then do a lot of sanding of the joints to make them ready for another coat or two of compound. Doing it the way he did resulted in a much longer process and more work to get to the job done. He hurried too much and because of that got sloppy, didn’t do it well and it ended up taking longer and required more work.
In the military one hears a lot of expressions and some seem counterintuitive, they just seem to go against common sense. One such expression is “fast is slow” usually followed by another saying, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast, so slow is fast.” OKAY, now WHAT doe that mean? Well, often when one tries to hurry doing something, they don’t do it well because they get sloppy, doing it to get it done but not doing a good job. Not going slowly and smoothly, creating more work, more hardships and not getting the results one wanted unless they take far more time to correct the mess they created trying to rush.
I was reminded of this when I overslept this morning and tried to hurry to get ready so I wouldn’t be too late. WELL………I spilled water while making coffee, knocked stuff over while carrying things out to the pick up and a few other ways managed to make more work for myself had I just taken my time and gone a little slower. Fast is slow, because I had to clean up the water I spilled straighten up the stuff I knocked over, and other ways undid the other messes I made. SO…..had I taken time to do things correctly, going just a little slower I would have been able to do things smoothly….and therefore faster than I ended up getting things done.
Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth. Proverbs 19:2
The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want. Proverbs 21:5
I found a couple little articles that also mentioned that if one fails to test a spirit to see if it is true because they hurry too much, the create problems or themselves and can easily fall into a trap that Satan has laid for them.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
There are also a lot of scriptures about being patient and waiting as I mentioned in a post a few days ago. So we see that scripture tells us to not be too hasty with things, don’t let things move or happen too quickly, that we should wait on the Lord and be patient. In real life, little lessons about things being done in haste, without taking time to do things properly one ends up with a mess that once done cleaning up after rushing and being sloppy one loses time. And, as the military adage goes: Fast is slow but slow is smooth, smooth is fast, so slow is fast. Obviously, I put more value in the scripture than in the other things, but they do serve as real life examples of what we need to remember in our Christian walks.
Lord, I praise the Lord of lords and marvel at your majesty. I thank You for all the blessings and for my redemption and forgiveness that you give me. I ask in the name of Jesus that you continue to help me grow in Christ. I ask that you use me and this blog to help others and that if anyone else feels like the rushed and find that in their haste they created more problems that You help them see how to stop, slow down and do things right. That they know how to clean up the messes in their lives and their walk with You so they can proceed slowly, smoothly and thereby more quickly realize the full extent of the blessings that You have for them. Teach us all to wait patiently and not hurry; to test spirits first; to see what is of God and what is not. Draw us all closer Lord.
Amen
I hope all have a blessed day and a chance to be a blessing to others.
