“It is a deep, slow process for a reason.”
These words were sent to me by a dear friend at the beginning of this month and, as words often do, they settled in my soul and began to weave their magic. I have come back to them many times this month and these words are words for my current season.
You see, I am working on discerning a path forward, something I didn’t expect but it seems the right road for the moment. The way forward is murky, I can just see enough to make the next step, I can’t see the whole route, and definitely not the end of the journey.
It’s a deep, slow process for a reason.
If I’m honest, I’m not thrilled with deep and slow. I’d like my answers now please. I’d like to know the path ahead and all the possible pitfalls along the way, how else can I be prepared?
And current culture doesn’t help much either with our online access. There is an immediacy that drives us. We can buy what we need – now. We can check the news – now. Why hasn’t my friend replied – now?
And yet I find my Father, is more interested in the journey than immediate answers. I find that he is more interested in deep and slow.
As we head into Christmas, I have been thinking about how that story takes place over a season, a period of months. But in our culture Christmas is one day.
We conveniently gloss over the fact that a pregnancy takes 9 months; and we condense the journey of the Magi from a number of weeks into a short journey across the church stage.
Christmas was a process; the arrival of Jesus was deep and slow. He was slowly ‘knit together in his mother’s womb’.
Christmas was a journey. Mary journeyed to see Elizabeth when she heard the news that she was going to be a mother. Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The shepherds took a short journey from a field nearby to find the child, and the Magi took their long journey. These journeys took time. Christmas unfolds over months not one day.
It’s a deep, slow process for a reason.
I am wondering if you, too, are in the midst of a deep, slow process? Is it an eagerly anticipated event like Mary awaiting the birth of her son? Is it a long ponderous journey, wondering if you’ve read the signs right like the Magi? Is it a season of exile and disconnection, like the time in Egypt when Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to escape Herod?
It’s a deep, slow process for a reason.
Do those words resonate with you too?
You see, no matter how much I wish the process would speed up, it hasn’t. No matter how much I wish I could get more clarity it eludes me. And sometimes (often) answers aren’t immediately accessible on google as I travel this journey of life.
Even Jesus had to grow from baby, to toddler, to child, to teenager, to man. We find a glimpse into his long slow process in Luke’s gospel.
“And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.” (Luke 2:40 NIV)
As I look at this sentence about Jesus I wonder if maybe deep and slow is more about forming us than giving us answers. I wonder if deep and slow makes us stronger, wiser, and more in step with God. I wonder if the process is more about growth than we realise.
It’s a deep, slow process for a reason.
Some thoughts on process this Christmas

Dear Jodie,
Yes your words resonate.
Yes to a deep, slow process & not knowing all or ?any of the answers.
This year I left my paid work, knowing I needed rest… I thought 8 weeks would do it… it’s now just over 9 months & I’m still not sure of when, if, what…
Prayed for you just now
Debbie 🌷
Thanks Debbie, praying for you too.
The joy and the growth is in the journey. That’s where the learning is.
Learning that too, that the journey is just as important as the destination.
Jodie, this absolutely reflects where I am at in my journey at this time. Thank you.
Thanks Valmai