A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB.
Sometimes we're so impatient to be perfect even with our own selves. We want it done yesterday. Part of our own stability and perseverance has to do with the fact that we have to be stable in our perseverance. We have to go through it and not expect perfection so quickly. It's humiliating to be humble. It's in our nature to be want to be done with it so quickly that we don't have to deal with it anymore. And yet don't we find that when we think we've conquered our faults, out of the blue they pop up again?
When you find you're having a difficult time trying to change something in your life that you know you should change-- be patient. Don't give up quickly. If you see it creeping up again, simply persevere in your asking for help. Don't become discouraged. Only become discouraged if you don't care anymore. If you care, God will provide. And sometimes He doesn't allow it to go quickly for us, simply so that we can prove our love.
It's not in our looking good but in our desire to keep persevering through the difficulties, that we are pleasing to God. We have to learn not to worry if we don't look good in the eyes of the world. It doesn't matter what the world thinks. It's by far better to be stable and correct in our own ways.