1. Forty

Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. –Exodus 24: 18

The number forty is the Biblical metaphor for a long time.

The rain falls for forty days and nights on Noah and the ark. Moses and the Israelites spend forty years wandering in the desert. Jesus spends forty days and forty nights fasting in the desert after his baptism.

What ties these Biblical characters together is not only the length of their struggle, but the reason they endure the grit and pain of the wilderness: Spiritual development takes a long time.

In our culture, we forget that the best experiences in human life are not quick. While immediate gratification is the sales pitch of myriad products, including many faith communities, this is not the ancient way.

Noah built the ark, gathered the creatures, and drifted for months to start a new world. Moses’ not only got his people out of Egypt, he then had to live with their faithlessness for generations before finding the Promised Land. Jesus tested himself alone, hungry, doubtful, to prove to himself that he was called to be the anointed one.

Time is the most important component to spiritual development. While there are many wells of God’s grace, you have to go deep in the same well to discover the most important wisdom in any tradition. The ultimate secret to finding your soul: Going deep takes time.

You'll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
–Robert Frost


What would you like to spend a long time doing, learning, or practicing to deepen your spiritual life?