Wendell Berry has this quote in an interview he did with Bill Moyer:
"I'm not going to do any extensive damage here until I know what it is you're asking of me. And this can't be hurried."
This means to me: I'm not going to do work until I know what work I have to do. And this can't be done in a hurry.
That way when I know what I have to do I can act quickly but not hastily. It will be thought-out, prayed-out and listened-out.
I used to be a man of far too much haste and not enough prayer or wisdom, and far too often I still am. However, by God's grace I'm changing ever so slowly. I will admit that it is hard to move slow. My thought process and feelings and maybe even my heart seem far ahead of my actions. I am still in process on the intentions I have in my heart, however at least now I'm aware of some of these intentions.
Unhurried means that people might feel neglected, but that is never my intention. I would never like to force my will on folks again. In this I still want people to move, in fact I'd probably want them to keep making progress now more than ever. However I no longer want them to move where I want them to move but rather where God has for them to move. This is the hard work of pastoral ministry. Misunderstanding from folks especially in a world that wants faster results than I am willing to attempt to produce. I want to know a person, and to know a person is to see what the long game is.
