Parents, I want patience and I want it now! As a boy, my family had a mini-farm not far from our home. I learned to plant and harvest a garden, pick cherries, ride a pony, help raise a few cows (though I could tell you nothing about this now), and I learned to fish. I had a cane pole that I took to the dock after digging my worms or catching crickets. I had learned to bait the hook, add a weight and move a bobber. When I caught my first catfish, I thought I was something. I just knew I was ready for a Zebco closed face reel and to go in the boat with my dad and fish. So, Dad decided to put me in the boat with him and my uncle one day. I was so excited I tried my first cast. Somehow my lure went straight in the air, over a wire across the river and fell back into the boat hooking my uncle in the back. Of course I tried to remedy the situation and reel it back in. My uncle said, no, no, don’t reel, let some line out as the lure dug deeper into his flesh. Meanwhile, we continued to float down the river and the line tightened digging that lure into my uncles back. It happened to be right in the middle of his back where he couldn’t reach it. So, my quick thinking Dad, scrambled to the front of the boat, cut the line, released the pressure on lure in my uncle’s back, reeled the line back over the wire, worked the lure out of my uncle’s back and reattached the lure. Of course, I felt terrible, but both of these men were so gentle and patient with me. After some casting practice in the yard with a lure with no hooks, I was invited along on another fishing trip. Those of you who are home with kids… KUDOS! They give us lots of opportunities for patience… Thank you for loving your kids well and being so patient. Patience was one of those virtues/fruit of the Spirit that does not come easy for me. It seems easier to be patient when everything is smooth sailing, but, for me, occasions to be patient don’t seem to come when everything is great. It’s usually when I’m stressed out from work and/or work and/or …
Paul tells us that when we belong to and attach ourselves to Jesus and His people, patient is one of the things we become. It is a fruit of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Our old self is impatient, but that is not who we are anymore. He encourages us, saying, “Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!
