The Patience for Building

If there is anything that is certain, it’s that there are few things that are built in an instant. You’ve probably even heard the old adage that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” So, why are there so many people who become impatient with the notion of building virtually anything? Building anything takes time and often happens in phases or stages. The Bible even tells us that wisdom or knowledge must be developed “line upon line, precept upon precept (Isaiah 28:10-11).”

Today, I was thinking about Noah and the building of the Ark. Genesis 5 tells us Noah was 500 years old when he fathered his sons. In chapter seven we see that he was 600 when the floodwaters came. That means there is a hundred-year period between growing his family and building the lifesaving ark that would give humanity the second chance needed to keep God from completely destroying the creation He truly loved.

What are you building? Do you have the patience not to quit or to set aside to let dust collect or someone else to profit from? Do you have the wherewithal to see things through so that you don’t rob yourself of the joy and pleasure of seeing the fulfillment of your dream?

I can’t help but think of the reality that Colonel Harland Sanders was 65 when he finally developed the eleven herbs and spices that would establish Kentucky Fried Chicken as one of the most widely known Fried chicken chains. He built something at an age when most people say it’s time to retire and settle down. He decided that it was his time to refire and build something that would eventually outlive him.

Depending on what you are building, it could take days, weeks, months, years, a lifetime, or even generations. As I stated before, it can take time and happens in phases or stages. The patience needed for this must be developed if you plan to see things come to fruition.

Think about the three and a half years that Jesus took to build up a company or people who would become the ones who would turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Think of the length of time it took to take Abraham from being a man removed from his family and kindred to the status of Father of the faith. God told him, “I will make of you a great nation (Genesis 12:2),” years before he was even a father and long after most would have even dreamed it possible.

It’s estimated that it took 10-60 years to build the pyramids. The Great Wall of China took 20 years to build. The Sears Tower took 3 years to complete, and the Empire State building took a year and 45 days. The Panama Canal took 10 years to complete. What I am trying to illustrate here is that each of these building projects took a considerable amount of time. Some of these buildings were desires in the hearts of men and women but could not happen immediately. Therefore, it required great patience.

They say that patience is a virtue. The reason patience is necessary is that things that happen in haste can often lead to errors that can’t always be fixed easily. According to one source, five people died during the construction of the Empire State Building. There were roughly 5600 people who died during the construction of the Panama Canal.

Author Samuel Chand notes in his book Bigger Faster Leadership, is that one of the things that he discovered when touring the Panama Canal was that the great key to the success of its building was the establishment of systems and structures. In the context of leadership and building a company, its culture, or anything requires systems and structures that will enable it to be carried out. The better the systems and structures, the faster one is able to build. Yet, it still requires patience to see things through.

Do you have the patience to build? Are you willing to cultivate the patience necessary to accomplish what you want? Are you building a family, a ministry, a business, a school, or a car? Whatever you’re building, know that you’re going to need the patience to see it through. So, build with patience.