Don't Be In a Hurry

Brigham Young recorded a dream he had the year after Joseph was killed.  “I dreamed … I saw Brother Joseph Smith,” he wrote, “and as I was going about my business, he said, ‘Brother Brigham, don’t be in a hurry.’” He apparently repeated it twice more: “Brother Brigham, don’t be in a hurry. Brother Brigham, don’t be in a hurry” (as quoted here).  This is certainly counsel that is very applicable to our day and that my small children would appreciate if I followed.  This statement I think reflects the words of the Savior in the Doctrine and Covenants, for He declared that certain activities are not to be done in haste. 

One of those is the gathering of Israel: “Let the work of the gathering be not in haste, nor by flight” (D&C 58:56).  He also commanded that the preaching of the gospel likewise not be done in haste: “And let the residue take their journey from St. Louis, two by two, and preach the word, not in haste, among the congregations of the wicked” (D&C 60:8).  Concerning certain temporal affairs He said, “Let these things be done in their time, but not in haste; and observe to have all things prepared before you” (D&C 101:72).  It’s interesting that some activities were to be done in haste; Sidney Gilbert and William W. Phelps were to “be in haste upon their errand and mission” (D&C 61:7).  It seems that this and the other references to being in haste refer to starting upon an assignment already given; but in general we are not to be “in haste” for the important work of the Lord. 

                One simple story in the scriptures that shows how God does not work in haste is that of the creation.  As we read the account in Genesis of the six days wherein God worked to bring about the earth for us, there is a sense of progress and order and continual work, but there is no rush.  The Lord was not in a hurry when He created the earth.  He even took the time to observe and evaluate His creations after each day: “And God saw the light, that it was good….  And the earth brought forth grass… and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:4, 1:12).  Six different times in Genesis 1 the Lord said that He saw that what He had created was “good.”  If God took the time to evaluate His creations after He was done, then He clearly was not rushing or in a great hurry.  In our lives we have to figure out how to emulate that example diligence without being rushed despite the ever demanding pressures on our time.