Tolerance for waiting, even for those we dearly love, has become a victim of our technical age. Patience is an expression of the respect we have for who another is and who we hope he or she might become. Patience is something we all need to reach the end of the long winter. So, where do you find patience?
Look first outside yourself. Within yourself is the last place to begin, especially if you are frustrated. Find patience where it is sure to be found. Then reflect upon that patience, its nature and its focus. Where have you encountered patience in another?
A first encounter for us all is the patience of God. Before God is patient with any creature, there is patience within the fellowship of God, the life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We know there are seasons in which one of the three figure more prominently in human history. We know there are specific roles for the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But we know that one is willing to trust another, and even wait another out.
A great example at this time of year lies in Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. In anguish Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; but not my will but yours be done.” He bowed to Another’s will, the Father’s agenda, what was planned apart from his own preference. Patience allows us to bend to another’s plan and understanding.
In the scriptures we are often invited to learn Jesus’s posture in the invitations to “wait upon the Lord.” Patience begins when we make room to be directed by an itinerary besides our own.
Patience is exercised when we invest time and trust in someone else. The Bible is a story of God’s patience with His people: the Israelites—wandering in the desert for 40 years, and more; Jesus and the disciples forever struggling to do the right thing; the Holy Spirit and the early church.
Have you noticed that God’s patience is equally offered to you, waiting for you to pass certain stumbling spots, to get over certain preoccupations, to move beyond destructive priorities?
We are often surrounded by patience. Have you ever considered the patience invested in you by a spouse, a parent, and that child who waits “forever” for time with you? Stop to consider how much of others’ time and energy and trust has been given graciously to you as they follow your agenda.
Patience arises when love frees us to focus away from ourselves and into the life of another. It weaves the fruit of the spirit together. It allows the joy of focusing on another’s strength and beauty. It is encouraged by the peace we have in our relationships. Patience is always an expression of kindness and quality of character. And expressed well, it is gentle and arises in one who lives with some self-control.
We are patient when we realize there may be more to this situation than we understand. “Perhaps he is late because… ” We are patient when we stop to consider that this person is worth waiting for. “This person has been so kind to me. How can I not wait for her?” We are patient when we come to realize that our patience might inspire another. We can teach our children to wait.
Created in the image of God and made royalty by the Lord Jesus we need to remember the true identity of those for whom we wait. We wait for princes and princesses who are capable of wondrously good deeds because they belong to God. Isn’t this part of why God waits for us?
Where do you find the patience? You begin by looking outside yourself. Look to the patience of God. Recognize patience in others, large and small. Exercise the relationship that grows when you move to another’s agenda. And when you are patient with another, you join with God who was waiting long before we began.
About David Sutherland
Rev. Dr. David Sutherland is minister at St. Andrew’s, St. John’s.
