My Fortune Cookie

Yesterday, I took my wife and kids to eat at a local Chinese restaurant. I enjoy the place even though the outside looks really dirty. Inside, the food is good and the people are very friendly.

As most Chinese restaurants seem to do, they gave us each a fortune cookie. As we always do, we opened them. I was surprised to find that not only do I get a nice saying on the one side, but along with my "lucky" numbers, they have added a word in Chinese.

So for my patronage, I get numbers, a good saying, and I get to learn how to speak Chinese (or at least a word). I can now say doctor (yi sheng).

I said all that to share with you the saying - "The expedient thing and the right thing are seldom the same thing."

What a great saying!

So many people are looking for a quick fix to problems or issues. They figure to get things done quickly so they can put the "thing" behind them only to find that new "things" have emerged. Dr. Seuss wrote about the famous Thing 1 and Thing 2 which cause havoc after the Cat in the Hat released them.

Expedience calls for people to hurry up and do things, like watching my kids walk on their toys instead of around them (or instead of picking them up). Expedience is also ike a child who is in a hurry to have a tooth fall out. They try to wiggle it loose, pull it loose, tie a string to it and yank it loose, all so they can get to the tooth fairy's reward.

Expedience is praying for God to do most of the work and then us showing up at the end to accept credit for it. It's like those who pray for a test to go well instead of spending time studying for it. Or those who are satisfied with "good enough" instead of excellence.

Have you ever had a bad feeling after you completed something because you know you did not give your best. Patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit. Patience enables us to complete things in a timely manner or to endure things that are overwhelming. Through patience, we find peace and the ability to deal with the "things" that spring up in life.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4 (NKJV)

When we try to make the expedient thing the right thing, we become the cause of many new problems or issues in our lives. Will there ever be a time for expedience? Sure. Will there ever be a time when critical life issues call for a decision and the line between right and wrong are blurred? Yes.

Patience right now, however, will help you deal with the urgent times when they appear. Patience is all in the practice. Prepare now, and you will not be caught off guard later.