Patience: Part Uno

They say that Patience "is a virtue."

I'm not sure I would define it that way, but it is undoubtedly a skill learned only through experience, and additionally requires much "ability"; in the art of practicing, to maintain.

The goal is simply to be is a state of static inertia. While this may sound "way" to scientific, it is nothing more than a state-of-mind, in practice.

Patience to me is being calm. Realizing the fact that there are only a few elements in your day that you can control. We can control the phone call to our mother, the phone calls to clients, marking of the to-do list on our calendar, and making dinner reservations after a long, hard day at the office.

We can also control what we do with our time and the person or persons' who we spend that time with. Outside of these things, and the various others that you can probably add to my list, the rest is left to chance and the way the wind blows about and thru the universe. It seems; sometimes, that even the rotation of the Earth, the cycles of the moon, and even the daily horoscope that I know some of you read, daily; that can throw the proverbial "monkey wrench" into our day.

When Paul became the King of Israel, his first instruction was to "wait.". Wait for a period of seven days, in fact. Think about this:  How many of us are willing to wait in line five minutes or more at our favourite coffee house for that glorious "cup of Joe", much less wait on something for seven days? Even Amazon will deliver your package on Sunday; of all days, courtesy of the U.S. Postal service.

The Heinz company designed an entire advertising campaign for its ketchup, exhorting, "Good things come to those who WAIT!" But who really believes that in the information age?

Not that I am correct; especially probably not to most, but I believe that patience is an expectation; a positive connotation that something good is coming my way as a direct result of my patience.

Patience is hard to be "measured" between one person and the next. We all can have patience in one area, and entirely NO patience in another. I despise waiting on people or companies to call me back. Especially when I have been promised a call at a certain time, and that call that you are "waiting on", does not come until later than the expected time. Even the cable-guy can only promise to arrive at your home for installation or service within a four-hour period. I mean; come on...whose brilliant idea was that?

And how do you define patience? Is it an act of kindness? A thoughtful consideration? Understanding?

I think that is is an important lesson; Christian or Non-Christian, to examine how Paul demonstrated patience. In the same way, it is hard to measure Paul's level of patience. Did his understanding of his first assignment of King of Israel to wait for seven days qualify as patience?

Do "good" things really come to those who wait; either patiently or not?

In Philippians, starting with Chapter 4; verse 4, Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord, always. I will say it again:  Rejoice!" One thing I immediately notice in this verse is that he not only puts emphasis on the word "Rejoice", but he mentions it twice and ends the statement boldly with an exclamation point on the word.

It seems that he then lends the possibility of the idea in verse 5 that perhaps "gentleness" could be an important factor to the element of patience.

But I believe it is verse 6 that is the key element, as Paul says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with everything, present your request to God."

Be calm, pray, and present your requests to God!

In verse 12, he further makes the claim that we should be content. And believe you me; if you have studied the life of Paul, the fact that he says he "knows what it is to be in need, and knows what it is to have plenty", is truly an understatement. But he is "content"; nonetheless.

The secret:  "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength"; verse 13.

All told, I believe it is fine to "ask for patience", even though some would caution against it. The secret, herein, is to be content with the answer.

Pray, and wait; as Paul did!