Jack Lindsey is the current “Past-President” at Bethany.  He has graciously agreed to share some of his past devotional writings on this site.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  – (Colossians  3:12) 

I was driving between appointments recently and saw a marquee on a small church with the message, “Yes, many people are self-centered. Love them anyway.” Easier said than done, I thought. After all, people can be exasperating. They take too long, don’t notice us when we need them to, and turn away before we are finished with them.

For many of us, January is a time that our patience may have worn thin. All the activities of the holidays, travel, and shopping in mega herds at the mega malls can leave us pretty weary. And even more trying, if you provided room and board to visiting relatives (or lived within their walls and rules for a few days) that experience can strain even Paul’s scriptural ideal of compassion, kindness, humility and gentleness. So, have you lost your patience?

It’s interesting that we use the terms “lost” and “found” in talking about patience. It implies that patience is something that is built into our human condition or taught to us, but that we sometimes can’t hold on to it. So then we have to search and find it again. Another thing we search for in life is happiness, and if we are going through a period where life does not favor us, we seek endurance. Endurance, of course, is a synonym for patience.

Webster’s traces the origin of the word “patient” to Latin and Greek roots that imply suffering. That sure explains a lot. To paraphrase web author Karen Wolff, the problem with finding patience is that you have to look for it in situations that require it. Long lines. Heavy traffic. Teenagers. It means that finding opportunities for patience may not be fun. And, of course, we don’t have to go looking – it seems that opportunities to find patience often find us.

As Yente, the matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof, says as the villagers endure eviction from their homes, “Sometime, maybe we’ll meet on a happier occasion. Meanwhile, we suffer.” If we think about patience as a gift from God, we see that it has the potential to help us to bridge those small and large chasms between other, happier emotions.

There are a lot of sources and information on finding patience. But, as scripture reminds us, there are also some pretty sterling examples of patience we can look for in the testament of the disciples. “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.” (2 Peter 3:15) So when you don’t know how you are going to find the patience you need, maybe that is a clue.

Losing patience is challenging to our emotional and spiritual health, and thus, as we know, to our physical well being also. And we are not perfect, so sometimes we will not find the patience required. But the search for it certainly moves us in the direction of health. Patience is sometimes necessary to show love to those around us, and as children of God we find wholeness when we are able to connect with God through our expressions of love.
Peace and health – JL

©  2010  Jack Lindsey,  Denver,  Colorado  –  Used with permission