The Thing About Patience
Galatians 5:22-23 … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
I really wanted to walk to the end of the Fairhope Pier and back today. It was a beautiful and perfect day to make the trek part of my walk. Pretty soon it will be cold and blustery many mornings and I am such a sissy when it is cold. Until just a couple of weeks ago it was just too hot out there with the sun beating down from the east in the mornings. I guess I am a sissy when it is really hot, too. I sound a little like Goldilocks, I know. I have the whiney part down pat! But today, the weather was “just right.”
Unfortunately, Zeta left her mark on the bay and the necessary repairs have not yet been made to allow walkers back on the pier. I have walked by several days lately, hopeful, impatient, wanting the barrier down so that walkers can be welcomed back. But. Not. Yet.
I find myself a little impatient a lot these days. Everything seems to take so long. First, waiting on the Sally debris to be picked up. Now waiting on the Zeta debris that replaced the stack of Sally debris to be removed. Waiting on Publix to be fully stocked so I can have my favorite 1% milk and not have to choose between skim or 2%. (I think I have too many choices in life.) Waiting in line to vote. Waiting on the election returns to be complete. Waiting on COVID to be over. Waiting on everything just to get back to normal again. Hear my big, noisy sigh!
When I think long and hard about the general effectiveness of my impatience over the years, the act of being impatient in and of itself has NEVER changed one thing. It never made Christmas come any quicker. It didn’t’ help me turn 16 any sooner. It never made any of the lines move any faster. It never made the traffic jam in front of me suddenly start moving. It never made the slow clerk at the store more efficient. I think my overall experience with impatience is that it has never accomplished anything other than make me grumpy. (And if you polled some folks around me, they probably would say my impatience made THEM grumpy, too.)
So, what do you say? Let’s see if we can summon up a little bit of that fruit of the spirit thing Paul talked about! Most of us agree it is best to avoid praying for God to “make us” more patient. We are generally somewhat fearful that God will decide practice makes perfect and send some extra things our way to try our patience so we can get a little more experience. I don’t really think God works that way, but still, just to be safe…
Perhaps Galatians 5:22-23 is a good reminder that when God poured the Holy Spirit into us, we gained the ability to BE all the things mentioned in the scripture passage above. Sometimes we know what to do, but we are just so good at NOT doing it that we let habit take over. So, I think today I will affirm that I have the ability to BE patient and in the words of that athletic shoe purveyor with the big swoosh logo on the side, I will JUST DO IT!
Heaven knows, it is 2020 and there may just be some more waiting in my future.
Oh God, you have given me the ability to respond to all sorts of hardships and inconveniences with grace and dignity and (yes!) patience. Help me to have a sense of proportion when it comes to those things that irritate me. And allow me to remember always, every day, that I get to CHOOSE my response to each thing that comes my way. Let me be the spirit-filled person you have gifted me to be. AMEN.
Blessings, Pastor Laura
