The Slow Work of Becoming

He Who Began a Good Work

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Paul is writing to people in the middle of their lives — not at the finished end.

The promise is not that you will be complete now. It is that the work begun in you will be completed — that the one who started it has not abandoned it.

Patience with Yourself

There is a difference between the patience we extend to others and the patience we are willing to give ourselves. We tend to be harder on ourselves, quicker to conclude that our failures are permanent.

Today, give yourself the grace you would offer someone you love. You are a work in progress. That is not a failure state — it is the ordinary condition of every person in the middle of their life. The work is continuing.