Patience – part one

Yesterday afternoon when my wife and I laid down for a quick siesta, I fell into a deep dreamy sleep.  Within what seemed like just a few moments, I saw myself standing in front of a large congregation preaching a message about patience.  Now to be perfectly honest, I do not remember what I was saying, nor do I recall if the audience was listening intently or dosing off from boredom!  But what does come back to me is that I immediately began to think about the meaning of patience and all that I have personally learned over the last few years about it.

Webster’s original 1828 dictionary says that patience means, “the suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil with a calm unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness.”  It also defines it as “The act or quality of waiting long for justice or expected good without discontent.”  As I look over the two parts of that definition, I can see where I have faired pretty good with the second part, but not so well with the first. Let’s consider my successes today and tomorrow we’ll examine where I might have fallen a little short of the mark.

If you guessed that I’m going to talk about my favorite subject of having good expectations that are solidly based on the truth of God’s word, you’re right!  That is part of the patience test where I have received some level of success.  Has it been easy?  NO WAY!  Have I lost my cool at times?  I am sad to say that I have!  Have I steadily progressed? Once again the answer is YES!

One of the suggestions that our doctor gave to me concerning the partaking of meals with my wife, was that I should slow down my pace to match hers.  This bit of wisdom has proven very valuable not only with meals but also with just about anything that we do!  I can look back over the last few months and see my improvement and the peace that patience brings into our relationship in these difficult times.  Little things like getting in and out of the car would drive me crazy!  A couple of times it took my wife over twenty minutes to get out of the car… all the while with me impatiently steaming and prodding at her!  Now that I have set aside my “fast pace” I am more able to encourage and assist her.  This has resulted in her being more confident in thinking through her motions, which enables her to make the transaction with more grace and speed!  I have found that it is almost always best to allow her to do as much as possible by herself.

Now I find myself reminding others to relax and slow down when they are with my wife.  It is even kind of funny to see the progression as they are wanting to rush things along, first by using encouraging words followed rapidly by a helping hand and then an all out effort to muscle her around.  This actually makes matters worse as she gets confused (as well as a little stubborn!) and then just freezes up.  Patience on my part has made all the difference in our world!  Besides, what’s all the rush about anyway!

Where does this particular type of patience have its roots?  From my assurance found in the word of God!  Remember, the Word says that “faith assures us of things we expect.” (Hebrews 11:1 – Gods Word ©)  You see I can take all the time it needs right now to make my wife’s life easier because I am assured that her difficulty to perform these takes will not last forever.  When the healing is completed, I would rather she remember how much of a encourager I was to her, instead of what a burden (or thief!) I was to her faith at the time!

How’s your patience doing today?  You know, with the holidays coming up, your patience might just receive a little testing!  Will you pass the exam?  Think about it!  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”