Love is Patient...Am I?
I decided to do a bit of a "pulse check" for the next two weeks; checking my heart in a different kind of way...monitoring the strength and measure of my LOVE for God and others. Asking myself in this season of hearts and flowers, How am I doing when it comes to loving well? How am I stacking up against 1 Corinthians 13:4-7?
So here goes: Love is patient.
(Why do we have to start with Patience? Why not something easier, like...say, ending world hunger or solving the "chicken or the egg" quandary?! Have you ever wondered why Paul chose PATIENT to be the first descriptor of the word LOVE? )
Indeed. So the question is...am I patient?
Today I walked the familiar sidewalks across our school campus. Pushing the stroller, I stopped every so often to give my 2 year old daughter a chance to catch up. She was busy picking hibiscus off bushes and collecting fallen plumeria from the ground. Her arms were laden with the typical combination of backpack, favorite dolly of the day and assorted found treasures.
It was a slooooow trek.
As we passed through the dining area, packed with busy students, a young man ran up to a girl standing off to the side of the tables.
"Sorry to make you wait," his apology held a hint of the expected breathlessness.
I stopped at that moment to let my little wanderer catch up and as I paused the female student's reply echoed through my thoughts and began to take root in my heart.
"Waiting's good," She began. "Waiting is...stillness. Waiting is...resting."
I began walking again at that moment, so of the young man's response I cannot be certain. However, the girl's contemplative words continued to reverberate through my sub-conscience the rest of the morning. And they began to change my way of thinking.
Patience is the level of endurance one can take before negativity." Wikipedia says so. I think patience reveals itself-or its lack - through outlook and attitude somewhere in the meantime between expectancy and result. Now I know patience goes beyond simple waiting, but under this new way of thinking, as I consider how patient I have been this day, this week, this month, I spend less time looking behind and measuring the lack...and more time looking forward and anticipating an abundance.
I am encouraged by this new thought: waiting as stillness...patience as resting.
It is undisputed that I value rest. And so somehow these words, overheard, have been enough to make this tired mama breath deeply and lift her chin; an intentional display of the second-wind that renews sense of purpose and focuses vision.
Love is patient. Am I?
Maybe it's just me. But patience just became a whole lot more palatable.
So here goes: Love is patient.
(Why do we have to start with Patience? Why not something easier, like...say, ending world hunger or solving the "chicken or the egg" quandary?! Have you ever wondered why Paul chose PATIENT to be the first descriptor of the word LOVE? )
Indeed. So the question is...am I patient?
Today I walked the familiar sidewalks across our school campus. Pushing the stroller, I stopped every so often to give my 2 year old daughter a chance to catch up. She was busy picking hibiscus off bushes and collecting fallen plumeria from the ground. Her arms were laden with the typical combination of backpack, favorite dolly of the day and assorted found treasures.
It was a slooooow trek.
As we passed through the dining area, packed with busy students, a young man ran up to a girl standing off to the side of the tables.
"Sorry to make you wait," his apology held a hint of the expected breathlessness.
I stopped at that moment to let my little wanderer catch up and as I paused the female student's reply echoed through my thoughts and began to take root in my heart.
"Waiting's good," She began. "Waiting is...stillness. Waiting is...resting."
I began walking again at that moment, so of the young man's response I cannot be certain. However, the girl's contemplative words continued to reverberate through my sub-conscience the rest of the morning. And they began to change my way of thinking.
Patience is the level of endurance one can take before negativity." Wikipedia says so. I think patience reveals itself-or its lack - through outlook and attitude somewhere in the meantime between expectancy and result. Now I know patience goes beyond simple waiting, but under this new way of thinking, as I consider how patient I have been this day, this week, this month, I spend less time looking behind and measuring the lack...and more time looking forward and anticipating an abundance.
I am encouraged by this new thought: waiting as stillness...patience as resting.
It is undisputed that I value rest. And so somehow these words, overheard, have been enough to make this tired mama breath deeply and lift her chin; an intentional display of the second-wind that renews sense of purpose and focuses vision.
Love is patient. Am I?
Maybe it's just me. But patience just became a whole lot more palatable.
Comments
never thought of patience in those terms but it is a good description I would say!
I have a lot to learn.