When I hear the word patience, two things come to my mind. First is a song by Music Machine about having patience. The Song went like this, “Have patience, have patience don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient you only start to worry. Remember, remember that God is patient too. And think of all the times when others have to wait for you!!
The second is an echo of past words. “if you know what’s good for ya, never pray for patience cause you’ll get it and you’ll get it good!” Well then, that sure sounded nice, lol.
I then think about how frustrated I get when I have to wait for my computer or phone to load, like it is ridiculous that it takes so darn long sometimes—–You know that forever spinning circle blanketed by a black or white empty screen.
So what is patience(long suffering, steadfastness)? It implies suffering, enduring, waiting, it seems when you are patient you are making a choice to wait. It also seems that in order to be patient, we must bear injustices we cannot fix at that moment. These characteristics seem like quite the tall order. This is the first description of what love is. I figure patience is really important cause it is the first descriptor mentioned while describing love in the scriptures.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NASB)
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag andis not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 [a]bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of [b]prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13%3A4-8&version=NASB> https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13%3A4-8&version=NASB
This also brought me to think about times in my life that I needed to be patient. It seems that life always demands me to be patient. I often have to wait for people, events or even for the oven to finish cooking. These things though are just part of everyday life.
So now the question begs, how do we learn to be patient while maintaining a good attitude? How do we learn to cope with waiting? We are told it is impossible to please God without faith. The very nature and definition of faith requires waiting in great hope and believing.
This brings me to the concept of time. What is time? Would we really have to be concerned with waiting if there was no time? Maybe it is more about the fear of running out of time that creates the anxiety we feel when we have to wait. We may even refer to thoughts such as these; “I’m not getting any younger”, “What if it is too late?”, “What if the timing is wrong?”, ” What if Someone else gets mad at me cause this is taking too long?”, “What if I make someone else late?”.
How would our thoughts change if time didn’t exist? Would our abilities to have patience and be healthy functional waiting experts improve? Without time there is more understanding, there is no linear construct, it just is. So not knowing where we are going and what is going to happen may also affect our ability to wait well with patience.
What solutions are available to help us grow and develop in this facet of love? First it is helpful to understand that time only affects us here in this flesh realm. Faith is not bound by the constraints of time or by the limitations of ignorance. The beauty of this is that God is love, which means God is patient. The good thing is that God knows everything and loves us. He is willing to give us understanding and guidance through His Holy Spirit. Nothing is ever too late or wrong when we are following the Holy Spirit and being given perfect wisdom. The Holy Spirit can show us wisdom through dreams, visions, Holy Scripture, signs and even miracles. There are many ways the Holy Spirit can speak to us and they are not all listed here. When we feel hope upon our heart and Father is leading us, we know it will always work out perfectly.
I think that when we wait it is because it would not have worked out correctly if it had been fulfilled sooner. This can be likened to a perfectly directed orchestra. If all the instrument players just played without direction and all at once it would be a mess of sound. In contrast, because the musicians choose to wait for the director’s cues, the result is a beautifully played out medley of perfection.
What does all of this really mean? Well ultimately it is beneficial for us to wait sometimes. The director, who is King Yahshua, who directs us through the Holy Spirit, knows full well what He is doing. I believe it is advantageous for us to realize this. As a result, we can take pleasure in the fact that being patient enables us to fulfill the perfect will of God and play our instrument perfectly, creating a beautiful song unto the Lord. The more we become like minded to Yahshua, the fruits of the Holy Spirit will become more abundant in us and will be evidence of our alliance With Yahuwah or in my words, Father. Patience is crucial in our ever declining world. I believe being patient is not only evidence of who we really are on the inside, but will even save our lives. If Father tells us through the Holy Spirit to wait before crossing the street, even if we don’t see any cars, we had better wait. Who knows at that moment why the instruction was given. I do know that sometimes when we are obedient that we don’t see the whys every time. It is usually when I disobey The Holy Spirit’s leading that I find out the why part. I would much rather live in wonder of what could have happened than to know the why I was warned cause it happened to me.
Patience is valuable and desirable. It is a character trait of our Heavenly Father and thus it should be a trait we all desire and eventually begin to attain.
The next quality I will be discussing in my next article is kindness. Be blessed and well, be patient!!! Happy patience gathering!!
© 2019 Jennifer Wallace