It was great! The ultimate shortcut when I was a student took me and my two girl friends right past a bakery on the way to class. We’d stop for our favorite muffins or chocolate-iced long johns, then leisurely finish the walk to our junior high school. Yummy, fun, and we were oh-so-cool in our bell bottom jeans.

Until. . .one day when we arrived just after the final bell rang. Then the shortcut wasn’t such a great idea.

Shortcuts are supposed to save time and effort, maybe some money, too, and make things easier for us. Sounds good. And certainly there’s a place for shortcuts, like on your computer screen or maybe in the kitchen with certain recipes.

But in other situations, not so much.

Some things, like cupcake frosting, just require a little do-over to get fixed up good-as-new. Others, like a hurried refinishing job with a cheap product may cost an entire weekend to re-do. But more serious things like say, surgery, don’t have very good outcomes unless they are done with thoroughness and great care every single time.

Maybe you’ve ended up lost on a desolate highway after taking a shortcut that looked so promising on the map. Or maybe you found an easier way to get smart and avoided classes at school that could have made your future better. And what could be more regrettable than choosing a life partner too quickly instead of taking time to really be certain in making a permanent marriage commitment?

Lots of things can be repaired over time, but many cannot. If we take the time needed to nurture a process from the start, instead of falling back on shortcuts, we will enjoy the blessing and benefits over a lifetime, and especially in the case of our faith, throughout eternity.

When it comes to taking the long way instead of short cuts, are there some pending decisions or opportunities you need to re-think?