It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. –Confucius

Standing in the parking lot of the grocery store, I fumbled with my phone as I attempted to place a mobile order using my Starbucks app. 

“This should be easier,” I kept thinking as I backed out of the app, only to relaunch it and try again. After a few attempts (please don’t ask me how many), I successfully placed my order. Only I never did figure out how to add a tip to my order.

On my drive to the coffee shop, I made a mental note to ask my daughter to show me again how to use the app. Chuckling to myself, I thought, “ How cute. She thought she could show me once, and I would know it.”

Using Smart Phones and their apps seem second nature to the younger generations. In my work with elementary students and technology, I notice they usually only need to be shown something once. Oh, to have grown up in this technology-driven world! 

While technology comes easily to these young students, other tasks remain challenging. In our school district, we adopted the philosophy of “the power of yet”.

We teach our students to change their thought process. Instead of saying: I don’t know how to write a five-paragraph essay, we teach them to say: I don’t know how to write a five-paragraph essay YET.

Who knew a three-letter word could pack so much power?

Although this philosophy definitely applies to my on-going battles with anything driven by technology, I find this idea also richly relates to my spiritual walk.

The Apostle Paul also embraced this mindset:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14 NIV)

In these verses, written near the end of his life, Paul wrote about how he had not YET achieved his goal. Far from discouraged, Paul resolved to ignore past failures and to forge ahead. With his eyes fixed on Jesus, he confidently looked forward to reaching his goal.

For someone as driven as me, this passage breathes life. When I first began to follow Jesus, I longed for my transformation into His likeness to be instantaneous. But becoming like Jesus is a life-long process. Ironically, the more I become like Jesus, the more I realize how much more I need to change. 

Thankfully, Jesus also believes in the power of YET. I know He will continue to work with me until my transformation is complete.

I am not fully like Jesus…yet, so I will press on until I am.

Wherever you are in your journey, I pray you, too, will find and rejoice in the power of YET.