Fruitful Contemplations: Patience

What fruit best symbolizes patience? Well for me, eating a pomegranate takes lots of patience. So much so, that I typically will not buy and eat a pomegranate.

The fruit of the Spirit is ... patience.  Gal. 5:22

"Patience is a virtue."  I've heard or read that phrase many times in my life. Patience is not a virtue that I naturally possess, nor that I have cultivated in my life. When I get a new appliance, I use it without reading the manual. When I hear a song I like and want, I immediately download it from the internet. When I get a new e-mail in my box, I look right away and see who sent it and what it's about. When cookies come hot out of the oven, I burn my mouth tasting the first one before they cool. When I plant tomatoes, I water them today and want to harvest them tomorrow. My patience dysfunction is almost so bad that if I'm cooking one-minute oatmeal, I want to take it off the stove at half a minute.

Patience is highly rated, and I would agree with those who do so ... for the most part.  I do think there are a few situations in life where impatience is healthier and godlier. I believe it is righteous to be impatient about helping someone in need.  I believe it is righteous to be impatient about expressing appreciation the minute you think of doing so.  I believe it is righteous to be impatient about immediately taking action to set things right once you realize that there is interpersonal strife building between you and a loved one. I believe it is righteous to be impatient about speaking up against injustice.

Back to patience as we usually think of it, though. According to Merriam-Webster, "Patience" has some interesting definitions:  (1) Bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint, (2) Manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain, (3) Not hasty or impetuous, (4) Steadfast despite opposition, difficulty or adversity, and (5) able or willing to bear.  The etymology of the word comes from the Latin and Greek words related to "suffering."

I am amazed at the biblical characters who had patience. How did Abraham have patience for so many years while awaiting the fulfillment of the promise that he would have a son with Sarah?  How did David remain so patient when he could have, on many occasions, knocked off Saul and fulfilled the promise of the prophet that he would become the king?  How did Isaiah have enough patience to maintain faith that a messiah would come? How did Anna have the patience to sustain her hope that she would see the messiah before she died?  When I reflect on the individuals in the Bible who demonstrated patience, I recognize again the flimsiness of my own abilities to produce the fruit of patience. (That's probably an indication that I need to do a better job of living in the Spirit.)

Patience, as I usually use the word, denotes waiting or endurance. But simply waiting or putting up with something isn't patience. It's more than that. You have patience when you are waiting or enduring with hope or expectation.  Patience assumes that eventually, something different will happen than the state you are currently in. So patience can look like all of the following:

• I will read the manual now, so that when I use my new oven I will do it knowledgeably and get better results.
• I will wait for the cookies to cool, so that when I do have a cookie, I will not burn my mouth and I will have a more enjoyable eating experience.
• I will water my tomatoes daily, week after week, because eventually I will reap a delicious harvest and enjoy my fresh garden tomato sandwiches.
• I will endure hardship or illness now, knowing that eventually God will make all things right.
• I will wait until God brings the opportunity to fill that leadership role, because if I don't try to push my way into it now, I will be more ready to do it well when the right time comes.
• I will continue to give a soft answer to this bully in my life, in faith that eventually he will respond by treating me in better ways.
• I will continue applying for jobs and maintaining a positive outlook, because I trust that eventually I will get a good one.

As I consider what I have written, I recognize that Patience in action is not necessarily a choice.  But patience in attitude is indeed a choice.

For example, the family of a man deployed overseas in the military has no choice but to behave in patient ways, waiting for the deployment to end. They can't make the time go faster, and they cannot bring him home early. But they can, as hard as that may be, decide to have an attitude of patience in how they go about their daily activities. Military families have developed a number of strategies for this, none of which--I imagine--are perfect.  But they help.  

Or for another example, a woman waiting for "that man" to show up in her life may have no choice but to wait, aside from of course putting herself in places where she can meet a variety of men.  But she can choose to have an attitude of patience in the way she enjoys her life as a single person and speaks positively and peacefully about the things of her life.  That attitude presumes that this waiting time is worth it, and that all will be well in a life lived on God's timetable.

Patience can deliver rewards. Not always, but often. An attitude of patience, I believe, will always produce rewards in some way.  

So my thought as I tie up these reflections is actually a question for both me and my readers:  What is the Spirit calling you to have patience about in your life right now?