Opus 2025-539: I Didn’t Say It

A couple years ago we had a contractor in our house who was standing next to me.  I can’t remember if he was actually working or just doing an estimate, but he turned to me and said you are the most patient man I have ever seen.  It may not have been those exact words, but that was the idea.  I had a hard time accepting what he was saying, but then I got to thinking about it.

Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit.  Patience is the first things listed when Paul is describing love and in I Corinthians 13.  The root meaning is a compound word meaning long suffering.  When I thought about what the man was responding to and why he said it, I could see how maybe I could qualify for at least a bit of patience.

What occurred to me today as I was thinking about other things was that if I am patient, it’s obviously not to my credit.  My patience is not a result of some deep-seated character strength that I have.  I don’t think of myself is being patient.  I love the microwave.  I always like to find something else to do if I have to wait for something in the oven or on the stove.  But at the same time as I look back over the years and the things that I have endured, I can see a lot of patience.

This is not to toot my own horn or claim that I am any more patient than anyone else.  I would guess that most people who would have the time to read this have gone through even more than I have, and it’s possible that without even thinking about it, they have exhibited patience.

I think we need to understand that this patience that we have comes from God.  We may have a little bit somehow built in, but when those situations hit where we are devastated or raging or totally numb it is only the grace of God extended to us that gives us that extra spiritual fruit that we need.

One of the great advantages of serving a living God is that He keeps an eye on us and makes sure that when the chips are down that we have the winning cards.

homo unius libri