Patience and Perfection

       There have been a number of times in my life where I get a new product which requires assembly.  I pull out the instructions and then begin but I have this constant urge to skip a few procedures.  I used to build model airplanes which were made of solid wood.  The basic shape was there, but it required a lot of sanding so the finish would be smooth and the wings and tail tapered to a fine edge.  I don't think I ever completed that step and the finished product bore testimony to that fact.  I wanted to paint it and to paint it now.  Maybe I had a little bit of a problem with patience.    James 1:4 says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 
      Right at the start, we can be thankful that God doesn't skip a few steps in our lives.  It is a gradual process that takes place all of our lives.  We are striving for perfection or as we may call it today, "maturity."  You may find that you desire to skip a few steps and that you would like to go from immature to mature in a very short time.  Your patience may be saying, "Enough of this stuff.  Lets get to the mature level, NOW!"  Of course, once you say that or even think that, you should come to the realization that you need a lot more work in patience and in your own spiritual life.  As always, God has the best plan and His plan takes time.  When you think about it, you may not even notice a change from one day to another.  It seems that way because the process is so gradual you don't recognize that it is taking place at all.  Many states are taking old railroad beds and converting them to bicycle trails.  They are so nice to ride on because they seem to be perfectly flat.  There are gradual grades of 1 percent to 2 percent, but you don't know that they are there.  We might think that we are in the finishing stages of life and that God is now using the sandpaper to get us smoothed out.  We may, however, still be in the chipping stage where large chunks are being removed.  In either case God is always working in the perfecting of your character.  Someday, you will be able to look back and all of a sudden, realize that you just climbed a hill and you didn't even know it.  Praise god that He is in the business of perfecting our lives a little bit each day.