Urgency to Move

“At once they left their nets and followed him.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There is a particular frustration that belongs to those who move through life with a sense of urgency. You ask something of another person — a colleague, a student, a parishioner — and they acknowledge the request with a nod, perhaps a promise, and then nothing. Days pass. You find yourself following up, re-explaining, wondering whether the ask was unclear or simply inconvenient. If you are honest, the irritation is not merely logistical. It is almost theological. Something in you perceives that the moment has a weight, that delay can itself be a form of refusal.

Simon and Andrew were not unthinking men. They were skilled workers who understood the rhythms of their vocation, the value of what they were leaving, the strangeness of the one who called them. Their "at once" was not naivety. It was a trained responsiveness — what the tradition would later call promptitude of spirit — the capacity to move when God moves, without requiring God to wait for your analysis to catch up.

How we respond to the requests of others may mirror how we respond to the requests of God. If procrastination has become our default posture — with colleagues, with commitments, with conscience — it is worth asking whether the same reflex governs our obedience to divine calling.

The voice that called fishermen from their nets has not grown quieter. The question is whether we have grown harder of hearing.

What net is still in your hand?