The Chaplain Chatters

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through some stages of instability

-and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually-let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense, and incomplete.