Above All, Trust in the Slow Work of God

Recently, I went to a bookstore at a Catholic retreat center. They had these fabulous cards (as in "greeting cards") with wonderfully deep sayings on them (the kinds of things they don't sell in Protests book stores--not that Protestants are shallow, but I tire of some of the mass marketed Christian products and sayings I see...a blog topic for another day). One of the cards I bought said this on the front:

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God"

I thought that was a beautiful sentiment about God's timing being different than ours, yet reminding us that He is still faithful, still at work, even through what may seem slow by our standards.

The card I bought attributed this saying to Teresa of Avila. When I googled it, I became less certain. I came across a poem/prayer with the title "Above all, trust in the slow work of God" and it is attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (which I think is a really cool name). I am not sure who is the true author or where this comes from, but it is beautiful and I pray that it will encourage you.

Above All, Trust in the Slow Work of God
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown,
something new.
Yet it is the law of all progress that is made
by passing through some stages of instability
and that may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually.
Let them grow.
Let them shape themselves without undue haste.
Do not try to force them on
as though you could be today what time
-- that is to say, grace --
and circumstances
acting on your own good will
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new Spirit
gradually forming in you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
Above all, trust in the slow work of God,
our loving vine-dresser.
Amen.