A Work in Progress

A Reflection by Sam Sawyer, SJ

God has begun a work in me, I’m told.

I want to believe, but I hope God is better about finishing what he starts than I am. I’ve got that half-read novel lying around somewhere, and then there’s that basket of laundry I’ve been meaning to fold.

Or for that matter, that online retreat I started…

Actually, what I really need to believe—and on my best days, what I do believe—is that God is not just better at finishing things, but better at beginning them. I may struggle to get up in the morning and find time to pray, but it’s not because God is procrastinating about deciding to show up in my life.

God’s work in me is in progress, and that calls for patience. But the work is in progress because God has already begun it—and that’s reason for hope.


Sam Sawyer, SJ

Sam Sawyer, SJ

Sam Sawyer, SJ, is the associate editor of The Jesuit Post, a website about Jesus, politics, and pop-culture, the Catholic Church, sports, and Socrates.

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