Testing Our Patience

Patience is a very personal matter for me these days.  Without going into the details, life has demanded a great deal of patience and rather than devolving into a firestorm of frustration my prayer has been for patience.  Of course when one prays for patience – what should one expect but more experiences which require even more patience.

A wise woman observed that if you want to grow in the spiritual life you can’t have any D.U.I.’s (and it’s not what you’re thinking).  In these times when we expect things to happen quickly, if not instantaneously, we can’t have Demands, Urgency or Insistence.  Think of how life changes when we eliminate that kind of D.U.I.  Things slow down, expectations of circumstances and others change – and even expectations of ourselves change.  We can take the deep breaths necessary to travel the road of life at God’s speed and not keep our foot so heavily on the accelerator.  

Michelangelo, who for many was an artistic genius, defined genius as having eternal patience.

If anyone knew patience in creating – he probably did.  Think of the time needed to discover the master piece David in a huge chunk of marble.  This David is particularly grateful that God is patient in letting me continue to discover more and more who I am created to be.  And I’m learning more and more in turn to let patience be the outgrowth of my gratitude.

There are dozens of virtues we can aspire to in the life of faith and I am coming to see that if we can grow and be gifted with a certain degree of patience, most of the others will follow close behind.  This is even true with the greatest of all, which is love.  Think of how love is enhanced and enriched when tempered with patience.

You may not be needing as much patience as I do right now, but I suspect there have been times during the recent months of quarantine when your patience has been tried and tested.  And some may be wishing we could be back worshipping in our sanctuary sooner rather than later – and I can only encourage patience – it will come. 

May God grant us all the gift of patience whether we are waiting for something or someone or whether we simply need to slow down and travel at God’s speed rather than our own.  Trust in the slow work of God…in God’s good time we will discover the beauty created within us and in others…and we will know the fulfillment we are meant to have.

With Patience and Peace,

Rev. Dr. David D. Young

Senior Minister