Slow and Steady Wins

So I have been dabbling in a few different devotionals and Proverbs keep coming up. In Dave Ramsey's Financial Wisdom From Proverbs he drew from this verse today: Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5 NLT). He tells about how he talked to a billionaire about things he could do today to get closer to where that man was financially and in business and the man suggested that he read The Tortoise and the Hare.  Dave was of course shocked by that seemingly trivial recommendation but the man said that this day in age, everyone wants to be a rabbit but in the end every time, the tortoise always wins.

I will admit that there have been times when I acted hastily. I think that is a gift and a curse for our current age. You can literally have whatever you want with a click of a button or with the swipe of the finger or credit card. Just because we can get it right now doesn't mean that we should. This is especially true for me in my educational journey. I always say to myself that if I can't get certain things in a certain time frame then something must be wrong with me but the reality is, slow and steady always wins the race. Ramsey stated that we have to have patience (which I don't always have) and be able to persevere. This ties into all of our goals, especially financial ones. I can't get rid of all my debt in one year but I can get rid of some. I can't lose all the weight I want this year but I can lose some.

Think about this: Octavia Spencer received an Oscar at age 42. If you look at all the different types of roles she had leading up until that point (or lack thereof), could you imagine if she had given up at 30 or even 35? Nelson Mandela was not released from prison until age 72 and look at his impact! He lived to be 95 years old. Can you imagine living that long? If we give up on our goals and dream in our twenties, thirties, even forties will we truly be satisfied if we are blessed with a long life?

The truth is, if we never start, we won't ever get anywhere. If we don't persevere when things get rough, we will never know what the end will be.

Let's press on my friends because no matter how long it takes us, slow and steady always wins the race.