It’s quite the process, and sometimes it can definitely be a slog. …not necessarily for the students, perhaps, as much as it is for me, the person who has to take the time to carefully work through all those articles multiple times within the course of a week with each new paper we put out. It’s hours and hours of time spent staring at a computer screen! But in the end, it’s totally worth it. 

However, in the middle of the slog, it can be easy to get discouraged, frustrated, annoyed, impatient and sometimes even exasperated. (How many times have I reminded you, dear student, to use the word SAID, not SAYS?! 🙃🙂) And there are definitely days when I catch myself wishing I could just zip through each article and make all of the corrections myself. WOW, it would just be soooo much faster that way! Ha!

For example:

• Rather than highlighting the text and leaving a comment that says, delete extra space, I could just quickly delete the extra space.
• Rather than highlighting the text and leaving a comment that says, new quote? new paragraph, please, I could just push “enter” and quickly trigger the start of a new paragraph myself. 
• Rather than highlighting the text and leaving a comment that says, let’s move this paragraph down to the other area where you were talking about this same idea so your article has a smoother flow, I could just do a quick little drag-and-drop, and the paragraph would be in its new location in a matter of seconds.

You get the idea. If I could just read through each article and make the corrections myself, my time and effort would decrease considerably. But if I did that, my students would never learn. They would never learn to be so meticulous as to ensure there aren’t any words that have two spaces in between them instead of one. They would never actually start remembering that in journalistic writing, you’re supposed to start a new paragraph whenever you have a direct quote. They would never learn to step back, look at the big picture, and make certain considerations about how smoothly the article might be flowing or not flowing. 

My extra time spent is perhaps the biggest piece of the puzzle that guides them toward becoming better writers while they’re under my tutelage. 

Have you ever thought about this in terms of how God is guiding you toward becoming more and more like Him? I wonder if He ever sits on His throne and thinks, Wow. I could just snap my fingers and make her a more patient person. Then I wouldn’t have to hear her complaining all the time! But if God somehow magically transformed me into one thing or another, I certainly wouldn’t learn anything along the way. 

Close your eyes, and imagine God… Taking His time and attention to lead and guide you through different circumstances and experiences. Knowing that you need to work on your patience, maybe He brings a new coworker into the office next door who will help you practice staying calm, tolerant and even-tempered. Or are you struggling to trust in His sovereign control? Maybe He guides you into a situation where you have no choice but to surrender and trust Him. 

Once when I desperately needed to realize the impact that idolatry was having on my life, God ever so carefully led me into a holy moment—driving in my car!—where it suddenly hit me. I was finally able to see how I’d been idolizing a specific relationship, and I broke down in tears. Grieving over all of the time and energy I had put toward that relationship instead of God. Although He could have just never allowed that person I was idolizing to even enter my life in the first place, He did, and through this painful process of being convicted to prioritize that relationship below God, I learned in a deep, unforgettable way about the damage and danger of idolatry.

Obviously, God could just snap His fingers and move us from Point A to Point B. But instead, in His infinite and perfect wisdom, God takes us by the hand and says, Come along. Let Me teach you, develop you and mature you. How sweet and intimate is our God! 

And, of course, ultimately He is helping us become more like Him. In the same way that I’m slowly but surely helping my students become better writers, closer to my writing level, God is slowly but surely helping us inch closer and closer to His “level.” …His character.

I know that sometimes my students open up their article documents, glance at all of my comments, and let out a little sigh. Not this again, they might be thinking. Let’s not send any of that kind of energy God’s way! Can you tell He’s helping you grow in a certain area? Don’t get discouraged. Don’t just wish you could hop on the fast track to the finish line. Instead, trust the process. Surrender to Him, and have faith that He is taking you somewhere. Be grateful for His guidance! We teachers always tell our students that if we didn’t care about them, we’d just let them do whatever they want. Our attention and instruction is a sign of our love and care. The same is true for God. He loves you enough not to leave you as you are. He’s taking you somewhere!

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. -Psalm 100:5