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 ways to something
Unknown and something new
And yet, it is the law of all progress progress
That it is made by passing through
Some stages of instability
And that it 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
Don’t try to force them on
As though you could be better today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
Will make of you tomorrow
Only God could say what this new spirit 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.Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
