Quick Word: Patience

You can catch my quick word every Tuesday morning, just after six, on New Zealand's Rhema

When I was in school I took part in an impromptu speech competition.  What happens is that you get a speech topic and five minutes or so to write a speech on that topic.  It’s high pressure stuff!  I was doing well in our regional competition when I was given the envelope with my new topic in it – ‘patience’.  I remember just staring at it thinking ‘it can’t be ‘patience’, that’s too simple, what is this word?!’  I even had to ask for a dictionary to look it up before I would allow myself to be convinced it was, indeed, the word ‘patience’.

As I’ve grown up I’ve realise that patience is actually not simple at all.  You see, I can patiently wait for Christmas to roll around, patiently wait in line at the supermarket and patiently wait for the slow, old lady to cross the road in front of me.  But I’ve come to think that patience is not just about waiting for things to happen, it’s also about waiting before making things happen – and that is hard for me!

When I get an email that makes me angry I want to thump out a reply on the keyboard then and there; instead I need to be patient, reflect on the best way to respond.  When I feel upset I want to speak out my feelings then and there; instead I often need to be patient, allow myself time to fully understand what I am feeling and why.  When I think I have a great idea I want to act on it in an instant; instead I need to patiently look at the different ways my actions could be interpreted, who my ideas affect.

I remember in my impromptu speech pulling out the line ‘patience is a virtue.’  And it is.  Paul talks in Corinthians about how we prove ourselves faithful to God through our patience (2 Corinthians 6:6).  And in Galatians he lists it as a fruit in our lives of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us (Galatians 5:22).   I don’t know about you but I don’t feel patience is something people value much.  But God seems to value it – being patient seems to reflect him in some way.  So I’m going to value it a bit more too – or at least I’m going to patiently learn to!