"Don't Barrel Through Work Zones"

As I was making some trips to a major city near me, I noticed on the sign above the highway a message that said, "Don't barrel through work zones!".  I had never seen this sign before.  I had seen signs that had road construction ahead say things like "Slow, workers ahead" or "Observe speed zones, fines doubled" and things like that, but never this saying.  That same day in two different places in this major city I saw that same exact phrase  being said.  Other things were flashing on the sign, but I was not able to see the rest.  I saw the "sign" God wanted me to see.  As I began to think about that phrase,  I asked the Lord about it.  I knew there was something more to this than I was getting at the time in my spirit.  The Lord impressed several things on my heart.  We are just like that.  We are always trying to speed up the "process" of growth and maturity, or the  "level" we are currently at in God, whichever phrase you relate to most  in your life.  As children, we want to hurry and be grown and have our own place, with our own jobs, but when we get there we long for the days when we were children again.  We want to hurry and marry and in the rush people don't always wait for God's best for them because it isn't happening in their timing.  Then they end up in either a mess or a loveless but "I don't believe in divorce so I will just stay stuck here" life!  Then people rush to have children  just to say, "I can't wait until these kids are grown.  I miss my independence!"  Then they want to rush them through college, because tuition is so expensive and they want that "buck" back in their pocket, just to go through empty nest when the kids leave!  Then they can't wait to be promoted to the the top and earn the big bucks so they can retire and they can finally "enjoy" themselves, just to miss coworkers and that feeling of fulfillment that they had when they were contributing something  more in life than what they knew.  The list goes on and on.  We want to barrel through life, so we can finally "enjoy" it and never do.  We want God to make our goals succeed and "hurry up, God and get this going for me I only have so long" attitude, when all the while God is saying, "Slow down!  I see the big picture you don't see!"  It is like when we tell our children, "Clean your room, it is a real mess in here!"  It won't be ten minutes later they are standing in front of you saying, "Okay, I cleaned my room can I play video games now?"  You know there is no possible way that room was cleaned in that amount of time from the mess you saw it was in.  Sure enough you go and check and they just rushed or "barreled" through it and you have to make them do it all over again.  In the time it took to go through the lecture about obeying you and not being careless in what you tell them to do, as well as reminding them, if they had just kept the clothes hung up, kept the room organized and everything in its proper place to begin with, it wouldn't have taken so long and they would already be on to other things.  We are not different as children of God.  Until we listen to our Father and do things His way and in His timing we will be met with the same results which is postponement!!  Sure, we can take things into our own hands and "git 'er done" as they say in the deep south, but if you do you are only delaying and hurting yourself!  God has a timing.  He is working on bringing the best so that you don't have to just settle for what is good.  Daniel learned patience in prayer when the angel told him, "Daniel, God heard and ANSWERED when you first  prayed, and sent me IMMEDIATELY, but I have battled principalities for 21 days to get here with the answer."  Now, what would have happened if Daniel decided God wasn't acting fast enough. I mean it had been almost 3 weeks!  What if he decided to take things into his own hands and "make" it work?  Daniel would not have had God's best!  In James 1:4 it says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."  Patience brings about a PERFECT work!  So perfect, nothing of joy and satisfaction is missing!  Don't rush through God's work zones, my friend!  Today is a gift!  Without even realizing it in prayer and study and obediance to the things of God you are actually setting up a foundation for great things to be laid upon.  Don't waste time having to go back and have "do-overs".  Listen and be patient.  God desires to give you the desires of your heart, but it must be done in His timing so that it can be YOUR best!  Have a blessed day, my friend, all day!