The poet, Oscar Wilde, showed forth at least the desire to be patient when he said, ”If you are not too long, I shall wait here for you all my life.”
Often it seems we live in a culture that has come to believe, ‘good things come to those who wait – and even better things to those who cut in line.’
Patience is defined as “the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, persevering in the face of delay or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties.” No one wants to pray for patience anymore – as the path to patience is usually paved with aggravated delay.
The mere mention of the word conjures up uncomfortable emotions, and for good reason. According to Paul, in Romans 5 – “Patience produces character, and character – hope.” But, what produces patience? Suffering. Yeah, that’s right. No wonder the halls of heaven aren’t echoing with cries from Planet Earth for more patience. Who wants to suffer?
It’s not as if we can avoid suffering just by refusing to pray for patience. Jesus tells us it’s a given that ”in this world we will have trouble.” Suffering – being forced to deal with difficulties, delays, and dilemmas – is inevitable.
The disciples were impatient with some little children who were being brought to Jesus one day. Jesus’ dutiful ‘handlers’ set about rebuking the parents of these little guys – believing the Son of God had better things to do. Jesus admonished his well-meaning followers, saying, “Suffer these little ones to come unto me, and forbid them not, for the kingdom belongs to such as these.”
The use of the word suffer, here, is indicative of an act of the will. Jesus was essentially saying - ‘put up with them, tolerate their childish curiosity, be willing to be inconvenienced. Interrupt the regularly scheduled program for them – because they get it. The kingdom is really theirs.’
This ‘voluntary suffering’ Jesus spoke of with regard to the children calls us to make room in our lives for the abundance of the kingdom often disguised as an annoying inconvenience. We are given many opportunities to embrace the important, and ignore our instincts for the urgent. Only when we are tuned in to God’s Voice and determined to follow His lead, do we recognize such opportunity.
The truth is that suffering – whether it comes upon us or we sign up for it - yields a harvest of patience in our lives.
We can be sure that our Father is ever eager to redeem our trials, our struggles – even our interruptions and rabbit trails – and use them all for our good. He is the Master Designer, working it all out….right on time.
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