For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3, English Standard Version)
Add blueberry picking to the list of things I’ve done for Jesus.
Our church recently connected to Pembroke Family Farms, a multi-racial farming cooperative located about 70 miles south of Chicago. We made a trek down there last week to help pick blueberries, a key revenue stream for this cooperative. One of the ways they entice volunteers is to allow them to take a gallon home of blueberries for every two gallons you pick for the farms. Fresh blueberries in July? Several people were in.
We arrived and received a picking demonstration. I got my white plastic bucket and figured I’d quickly fill that one up and then another one and then was wondering how I would eat the blueberries I’d get to keep. On pancakes? In muffins? With bananas for breakfast? But have you ever seen or heard of the old fisherman’s prayer that goes, “O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small”? As we were picking, I changed the prayer: “O God, this bucket is so big and these blueberries are so small.” It was taking a long time to fill the bucket and as the morning went along, it got hotter and it wasn’t quite as fun. One of my blueberry picking partners summed it up: “This is slow work.”
She was right. It was slow…and a reminder that life can be slow despite our society’s determination to make things as instant as possible. Indeed, the adjective “slow” is usually a pejorative in our culture (like this humorous Comcast commercial that ran a few years ago). Also, slow is not what we want right now. We want a vaccine tomorrow. We needed a job yesterday. We need Congress to get its act together and offer relief ASAP. To all of this, I say, Amen. But let us not lose heart. God works in the slowness, too.
The prophet Habakkuk is one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. Throughout this book, he is conversing with God and expressing fear and anxiety about the nation of Israel’s future since an invading force (the Chaldeans) may be coming soon. God assures Habakkuk that there is a vision for wholeness in Israel’s future, but “if it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
I’m not sure if that’s the word that Habakkuk wanted. But I realize that when I slow down, I’m able to listen more closely, notice things more carefully, and appreciate God’s presence more faithfully. This is not to merely to say that we simply be patient for inequity in our society or be happy that this virus continues to wreak havoc on our world. Only that as we wait, God has not abandoned us. God is also in the waiting. God is also in the slow.