The Patience of the Ents

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers, the ancient tree-creatures called Ents have a saying that stops Pippin cold: "I am not going to be hasty." Treebeard, their eldest, explains that Ents never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say — and they take days, sometimes longer, simply to decide whether a thing is worth doing.

When the hobbits urge them to march against the evil wizard Saruman, Treebeard calls an Entmoot — a great gathering that lasts three days of slow, rumbling deliberation. Pippin grows frustrated. The world is burning, Frodo is in danger, and these enormous creatures are standing around humming to themselves.

But when the Ents finally decide, they move like a force of nature. They tear Isengard apart stone by stone.

Tolkien, a devout Catholic, understood something Scripture confirms: "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31). Waiting is not weakness. Patience is not passivity. It is the long, rootward work of becoming someone who, when the moment comes, is ready to move with God's purpose rather than ahead of it.

Your restlessness in waiting seasons is understandable. But the Most High is not slow — He is deep-rooted, growing something in you that haste would destroy. Trust the Entmoot. The march will come.