As I have been exploring the concept of embracing, I have been coming up with a lot of different ways to apply it. Actually, I’ve been stockpiling them, but this is the one that has risen the surface most prominently. We must embrace the value of process.

There are two things I have been thinking about lately that brought this into focus for me. The first is the creation story, and the second is the healing capabilities of the body (human, animal, etc.). They both speak to me that God designed process into the human experience.

In the first chapter of Genesis after the account of each of the six days of creation we have this phrase, “There was evening and there was morning: the first (through sixth) day.” This communicates to me that in creating the universe God took time to do it. Even when the “work” was done, God rested as a part of the creation process. If God used a process to bring about the creation as we know it, then we can expect process as an integral part of the earthly experience.

I am regularly amazed at the healing capabilities of the human body. In a home with five children, we see our fair share of bumps, scrapes, and cuts. All of which heal quite effortlessly, because God created our bodies to do it that way. 

The other night, I got to explain to my four year old about scabs. He was curious as to why we get them. I explained that they were God’s bandaids, protecting the wound as it heals underneath, and when it’s done healing, the scab falls off. It seemed to make sense to him. To me it is a testimony to God’s natural “miracles” found in the processes of life. It also reminds me that if we circumvent the process, we end up forfeiting the benefit the process was designed to provide (antibiotics, anyone?).

I share all of this in contrast to our “instant” society, in which everything should “just work,” “get done,” and we should “just do it.” The foil to all our advancements is process. It’s ok that things just take time.

What process are you needing to embrace? I pray God’s grace be with you as you seek to embrace the process before you.

Grace and peace,

Brook