real change takes time

Lewis lays some serious wisdom on us today in A Year with C.S. Lewis. He tells us about gradual change.

There are exceptions to pretty much every rule. And this rule is no exception. Sometimes God changes people overnight. Blind men see, lame walk, dumb speak. Even today, it happens. I know people who have prayed that they could stop smoking, and they just stopped. Never picked up another cigarette. Same with alcohol. Cold turkey can be tasty on occasion, especially when you add Miracle Whip.

But those exceptions prove the rule. The rule being that most real, substantive change takes time. Making the kind of changes that we really want in our lives usually means making new habits. And habits take time to develop.

What does this mean practically? Well, it means that we need to be patient with ourselves. We need to realize that we are probably going to fall off the wagon a few times, maybe even a few hundred times. But every time we fall off, we just get up, brush ourselves off, and climb back on the wagon again. We keep going. When they were building Rome, I'm sure they met some setbacks. But they kept building, brick by brick, day after day, until they created a masterpiece. That masterpiece will one day be gone. Eventually, whether you believe in a literal apocalypse or you just believe that the sun will burn out, Rome will one day be gone.

But you will live forever. And the days that you're taking, laying the bricks that you're laying, are creating a masterpiece that will be even more resplendent 10,000 years from now. What you're building will truly last. So build with care.

And take the big view.

God, thank You for helping us build a masterpiece.