For the past couple of months I keep coming back to this beautiful post from Steve Gershom (aka Joseph Pervor)
‘Patience means not only being willing to wait for the end of something, but staying alongside it the whole time: not just waiting for the fruit of the tree, but watching as it grows, loving the dirt and the sap and the rain, rejoicing in the bud and the blossom as well as the apple; not only because they are necessary precursors, but because they too are ends, are good.’
I have many virtues, but patience, simply is not one of them — especially when it comes to my relationships.
“Love is patient…It is not jealous…it does not seek its own interests.” I’m slowly learning how to truly love — or trying to. To see my love, my friendship, as a gift, to be given freely, with nothing required or to be expected in return.
It’s not easy, to say the very least, and it can be very painful — a real lesson in pride — especially when it can seem like some people mean much more to you than you mean to them.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like your heart!
2 Comments on “Patience”
Oh my, I need to keep remembering this too. I think I forgot it right after writing it.
I think it’s especially difficult for those who take a route off the marriage and family bandwagon. Honestly, sometimes I don’t expect love – because I know the only kind of love the world has to offer is between two sheets and ends when the sun comes up. I’ve been conditioned over the years to expect the same negative responses to my life – or deafening silence. Yes, I know I need to look beyond this world to the love that awaits me. It is difficult.