My child, man's life is full of sorrow because he is in exile. Do not seek perfect rest. Since our Christ bore His cross, we shall bear ours, too. If we endure all afflictions, we shall receive grace from the Lord. The Lord allows us to be tempted, so that He can test the zeal and love we have for Him. Therefore patience is needed. Without patience, a person does not obtain experience, acquire spiritual knowledge, or obtain any measure of virtue and perfection.
-- St. Joseph the Hesychast, Letter Seven in Monastic Wisdom: The Letters of Saint Joseph the Hesychast. Florence, Arizona: Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, 2016.

How often do we, who have grown up in the West with it's "Name It and Claim It" theology, über rich televangelists promising prosperity, our cult of Hollywood personalities, and "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" fall for all things instant? Instant ramen noodles. Instant mashed potato flakes. Fast food from any number of local and global chains. A journey that took my ancestors nearly five months to go from Winter Quarters, Nebraska Territory (modern day Omaha, Nebraska) to Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory (modern day Salt Lake City, Utah) now takes about three hours by Boeing jetliner and we complain at the cramped conditions in coach or business class.

The spiritual life does not allow for these instant gratifications. First, we have to understand that we are not gratifying anything. "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me," Christ said. (St. Matthew 16:24; cf. vv. 25-26) We are called to lose our lives for His sake, not to live our best lives now. This means carrying a heavy and painful burden to Golgotha.

This journey is slow. Barring some unusual grace from heaven, we will make this journey slowly because we are needing to make changes at a fundamental inner level. Anyone who has simply tried to break bad habits knows how hard this is for us mere mortals. We do not like to cooperate with the removal of anything we have grown accustomed to -- even if it is unhealthy in some way. So much of what we do is rooted in secret pride and we have to come to understand that. We have to get exposed to it step by step and that takes time. Then it takes even more time because we have to resist it root it out.

It is a painful journey. Painful because we have not been connected to the Source of our life as we should. We have to first disconnect from our sinful ways in order to be prepared to receive grace. God will not gift us with something we are not prepared for. As a parent, my daughter asked me for the keys to our van once -- she was going to drive us to the store -- but I said no. She was shocked that I would just deny her that request out of hand. She was six or seven years old. She was not prepared by physical size, she was not prepared by practice driving, nor was she prepared under the law with a license and insurance. I could see that clearly from my vantage point as a thirty-something year old parent. She could not and was mildly upset when I said no. Today, at twenty-two, she owns her own car, drives very well, and even does her own oil changes. Our Heavenly Father has the celestial version of that vantage point over us. He knows we must be prepared for it before we receive something important. He knows that when we are properly prepared to receive it, we will be more likely not to make mistakes or abuse it. We will, to use human terms, "own" it and take care of it. That takes time and preparation and often some pain, either in spiritual growth or in the removal of a spiritual tumor we did not know we had or thought benign.

"Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." (James 5:7-8)