October 8, 2026
“Love is patient, love is kind.”—1 Corinthians 13:4
Patience and everyday life can feel as mismatched as oil and water. Whether I’m waiting in a slow checkout line, stuck in traffic, or asking one of my children for the umpteenth time to do something they forgot, impatience seems to bubble up easily.
Impatience often reveals more about my heart than about my circumstances. When things don’t go my way, plans take longer than I’d hoped, or life interrupts my carefully laid schedule, frustration spills out. At its core, impatience is usually about me—my comfort, my timeline, my expectations.
But God calls me to something different. With God’s Spirit alive in me, He cultivates the fruit of patience (Galatians 5:22). He gives me the ability to slow down, wait, and trust His timing. …
The Bible describes God as “patient with [people], not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God was patient to lead me to come to Him, and He continues to be patient with me as I grow in Him.
That’s what true love looks like. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). God’s love takes its time. It waits. It doesn’t rush the process. His love isn’t pushy; it’s patient and persistent.
If God is not in a hurry with me, then I don’t have to live in constant hurry either. I can rest in knowing He is at work, even when life feels slow or messy. His patience gives me space to grow and also gives me a model for how to extend patience to the people around me.
So today when impatience rises, I want to remember: God isn’t rushing me. He delights in me. And He promises that the work He began in me will be brought to completion (Philippians 1:6). That truth frees me to extend His love and patience to others—and even to myself. Lord, remind me that You are not in a hurry with me and that I can trust Your timing in all things.—Ruth Schwenk1
God is never in a hurry, and he’s never late. He’s always on time.
God’s timing is perfect, even when we can’t understand it. We’ll never fully understand God’s timing because God exists on a different wavelength. Because he is timeless, he has a different view of time.
The Bible talks about God’s understanding of time in 2 Peter 3:8. It says, “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” … God’s timelessness has big implications for your life. …
What vision has God given you? Over the years I’ve discovered that while everybody tends to start off early in life with a vision, as time goes on, more and more people give up on their dream before it’s accomplished. The reason is often because it doesn’t happen fast enough.
Maybe you have had your dream battered. Maybe you have had your dream broken. Or maybe, out of discouragement and disappointment, you have buried your dream. You’ve given up on it.
God doesn’t want you to do that. If God gave you a dream for your life, it will happen. It just has to happen on his timetable, not yours.
God says this about your dream: “The vision will still happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won’t be a lie. If it’s delayed, wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won’t be late” (Habakkuk 2:3).
When I started Saddleback Church when I was 25 years old, I was in a hurry to get everything done fast. But God said to me the same thing he will say to you with your dream: “No, it’s not all going to happen right now. But slowly, steadily, the vision will be fulfilled.”
I want you to remember this powerful truth: God is never early in your life. He is never late in your life.
God is always right on time.—Rick Warren2
I recently saw a ketchup ad for a famous brand that showed ketchup pouring out of a bottle very slowly, accompanied by the song “At Last.” It reminded me of being a child and waiting for ketchup to pour out on my hamburger agonizingly slowly.
Some brands are watered down, and pouring isn’t a problem anymore—except for the lack of flavor. Some brands now come in plastic squeeze bottles for impatient folks like me or in small plastic packs that you tear open and squeeze out. But I’m talking about the narrow-necked glass bottles which gave you no alternative except to wait.
I remember getting so impatient for my ketchup. I’d try shaking the bottle. Then I’d pound on the bottom. Sometimes, I even resorted to pushing a knife up into the bottle to get my ketchup. But most often, I’d just have to wait until the ketchup gradually began to pour out in its own time.
I overslept the other morning and woke up feeling like I had to pound on that proverbial ketchup bottle. I kept pushing for things to hurry up, so I wouldn’t be late for an appointment. I even tried shortcuts and raced through yellow traffic lights just to get through. I felt like I was literally playing catch-up.
Then I realized that life is like that ketchup bottle. Things move in their own time and, in our impatience, we can shake and pound, but events will pour out as they’re meant to. Some of the best things in life are slow—slow songs, slow sunsets, slow kisses, and even slow ketchup.—Joyce Suttin
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Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.—Romans 12:12
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.—Psalm 40:1
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.—Lamentations 3:25–26
Be patient like those farmers and don’t give up. The Lord will soon be here!—James 5:8
Have you met people who wear their busy lives as badges of honor? God has given us different capacities and callings, so I can’t judge someone else’s schedule, but I do know something about assigning a misplaced sense of value and worth to busyness, which in my life produced a sense of hurry.
Growing up, I subconsciously took to heart the phrase “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” As an adult, I heard, BUSY stands for “Burdened Under Satan’s Yoke” and “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.”
All these sayings contain some truth—depending on how we apply them. But busyness has robbed me of more than stillness. And the misplaced value I assigned to busyness has sabotaged times of stillness with a nagging sense that I should be doing something. …
My desire to be responsible pushed me into an out-of-balance life. One day my husband said, “When you’re overcommitted, we all suffer.” I’d asked his thoughts on a new ministry opportunity, but his words stung—because I knew he was right. …
The Gospels challenged my view of productivity. I never saw Jesus rushing during His three-year ministry. He stunned me by saying “no” to great ministry opportunities. He walked away from eager crowds to keep step with His Father (Mark 1:35–38). He applauded Mary, who sat at His feet listening to Him, while her sister Martha complained that Mary wasn’t doing enough.
“But the Lord said to her, ‘My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:41–42). …
Perhaps the problem lies not in busyness or idleness, but in a distracted heart that makes us restless. Life has rhythms. People have different capacities. But we all need to practice staying in tune with our Lord so that we don’t lose the ability to enjoy Him, the important people in our lives, and life itself.
Signs of Putting a Misplaced Value on Busyness:
If we’re used to lots of activity and we have to slow our pace, we may feel like we’ve been put on a shelf. Not true. God values our fellowship, just as He did Mary’s. He delights in the pleasure of our company. …
Isn’t that the life we all long for? To fully engage in the work God has called us to—without rushing or comparing ourselves or others to our own unrealistic standards. To appreciate those with different inclinations and gifts. To enjoy our Lord, our loved ones, and even ourselves.—Debbie W. Wilson3
Published on Anchor October 2026. Read by Lenore Welsh. Music by John Listen.
1 Ruth Schwenk, “God Is Not in a Hurry With You,” proverbs31.org, December 29, 2025, https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2025/12/29/god-is-not-in-a-hurry-with-you.
2 Rick Warren, “God Is Always Right on Time,” www.pastorrick.com, September 7, 2023, https://www.pastorrick.com/current-teaching/devotional/god-is-always-right-on-time.
3 Debbie W. Wilson, “God Isn’t in a Hurry—Why Are We?” debbiewwilson.com, July 28, 2025, https://debbiewwilson.com/god-isnt-in-a-hurry.
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