Be Patient

Have you ever been told to be patient? The person speaking is usually slightly annoyed right? Was it your parents? I have become my parents. I feel as though this is our daily mantra around the house. I'm trying to replace it, but it is quite difficult. "Boys be patient". "Stop interrupting and be patient". "Be patient with your brother". "Hold on. Wait a few minutes, ok?". I have come to the conclusion that one of two things is the case. Either I am not being patient enough or my kids are way to demanding - or maybe both!

Or perhaps you struggle with patience in your marriage. It can be tough to wait on those answers to your prayers. We may be tempted to get ahead of God and not consider our spouse in our decision-making at times. Impatience can make our relationships extremely frustrating!

But...how do you think God feels? He sees the end from the beginning, yet he waits for us to "get it". We are God's children and He has patience that makes no human sense. It is one of the reasons that Jesus has not yet returned. He is patient in waiting for folks to repent. Very patient! How amazing and truly merciful of Him! We are mere humans with such selfish tendencies and yet, God has amazing grace towards us.

The Bible tells us to let patience have her perfect work in us. There is a fruit of the spirit that can only be developed through this process - this one. Let it work. Don't always take the stance of "poor me". It's fruitless right? How horrible would it be if a farmer worked so hard during crop season, went through such a rough time to grow some plants that should bear fruit and ended up with nothing. Nothing to show for all his efforts. That is what it is like for us to complain through the hard seasons. We discover that it has not formed anything in us. We have no fruit in that season. God wants to use every single thing that we go through to make His name great and to get the glory that He is due.

So if God Himself shows such great patience to us, shouldn't we show patience with others? We can be patient with our children and with our spouse. We can be patient with co-workers and that person driving in front of us. We can be patient in the store and as we wait on the phone.

Remember, it's not about you, it is about what the Lord wants to form you into.

Be patient. Learn how to suffer long.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lil Maurice Rated PG

Image
Praise God! When I was a little tike, of about five years of age (1975). I guess I thought I was some kind of explorer or zoologist or something, because I used to go around searching for Moby Dick (the fictional whale). I can't remember hearing the story, and I know I didn't read the long novel. But I was obsessed with finding this creature. Which is kind of embarrassing when I think back on it. Somehow I got the idea that Moby Dick lived down in the sewer system, under the manhole covers. One summer day a friend and I, with our big afro's and bell-bottom pants, were playing at my house. My mother (RIP 1/8/50- 5/19/86) decided to take me and my friend with her so she could see her friend, who lived in another part of the hood. When we got there we sat on the front porch. The nice lady offered my friend and I some watermelon. After eating that, my friend and I went around to the back of the house, as my mother and her friend sat on the front porch talking. While...
Read more

Spousal Support in Bereavement - Missing Daddy

Image
We have been silent on this blog. We have been quietly holding each other up. This is why. Just a few years into our marriage, we lost Maurice's dad and on February 23rd my dad passed from earth to eternity. Some would say that we are now fatherless, but we beg to differ. My father - Arnold Lee Harden gave his life to Jesus Christ as a teenager and served in his local church. He then married, had three girls and became a deacon in his latter years. We know that life begins when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, so my dad is living his BEST life right now! I got that full revelation on Easter Sunday weekend. I was tempted to deeply mourn during the holidays, but then, I remembered that this year was my dad's first Easter with Jesus Himself - how glorious! All couples deal with death differently. When your spouse is hurting, how do you support them? Here are a few things that Maurice did for me. Letting Me Cry I do not think I have ever cried so much on my life. I c...
Read more

Becoming a Mother

Image
There was a time that I wondered if I would ever be a mother at all. After we got married in 2001, we waited for a few years and then we were pregnant with our first child in the spring of 2005. We were elated because we had finally saved enough to move out of our 1 bedroom apartment and become real homeowners!  Our happiness quickly took a turn for the worse just a few short months later when I began to have periods of cramping, then spotting. I had been working full-time throughout my pregnancy in rehab. It was heavy work, but I thought nothing of it. I was also very ignorant about heavy lifting while pregnant and monitoring my out-of-control mood swings. I took a lot of my frustration out on my husband. We had told our families and then we lost the baby to a miscarriage. Incompatible genes they told us. Incompatible?? Bind the Devil!! Now, I was no midwife or OB/GYN nurse, but I figured two healthy people could have a healthy baby together without complications. It's b...
Read more