Tuesday July 14, 2020
Judy Roberts
Patience
Thoughts on Developing Patience
All my life I have been a doer. My Dad must have instilled in me the importance of
doing. Perhaps he was thinking that “idle hands are the devil's workshop.” So through high school and beyond, you would find me doing acts of service- to my family, my community, my church. When Lew was the Thompson School administrator at UNH, his philosophy was “learn by
doing.” He used to quote the Chinese proverb,” To hear is to forget, to see is to remember, to
do is to understand.” And so his students studied agriculture, plant science, forestry and culinary arts, their skills cemented by doing.
I was busy at home seeing to the needs of three children and my husband, running a performing arts center where I also taught dance, and oversaw big events. While living in Durham, I helped start an International Friendship group that invited international students to community homes for meals and holidays. We even invited a Muslim student from Bangladesh to live with us! He even went back to marry and brought his wife to live with our family. This special couple opened my eyes to a world of being. These friends loved to sit and talk or just enjoy being in nature. They marveled at all that Americans did as volunteers. My problem was I got impatient to do something. There wasn't time to just be.
One thing that this virus has done for me is to teach me about patience and that not doing is a good balance. Like most of us, I have had idle time to fill. The good news is I had time or made time for Bible reading, the daily reflections from parishioners and a daily Bible quote and study on the Internet. Although I amdeaf in one ear, St, John's virtual church services have been a blessing, especially with close captioning.
I decided to see what Biblical references there are for “patience.” The greatest quote on love starts with patience- (I Corinthians 13), “Love is patient and kind.” In Romans 12:12, it says, “Be patient in trouble and always prayerful.” I took these words to heart and since I have had time, I have prayed for family, for friends, for Black Lives, for our country, for the virus to end, for the world. The Word of God feeds my spirit and feeds my faith. I have learned that patience according to the New Testament Greek translation means to be “consistently constant or to be the same way all the time.” This is who God is, consistently constant in love, in patience, in joy, in peace.
I plan to continue studying the Word. I miss the chance to be of service for Common Table lunch but know that it continues with many younger hands and hearts and that one day, it will resume within the church hall.
I am still a doer at heart but I am learning more about patience. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 5, “We can rejoice, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure (patiently). And endurance helps develop strength of character in us and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us for we know how dearly God loves us,” all of us.
Do you have your faith set on God's promise -for a promise you have waited for a long time? Put patience to work. Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus and the Holy Spirit.