I hear it all the time, “Pray for patience.” Some people even recommend purposefully
practicing the act of waiting to help
develop patience. I don’t know about
you, but there is a major disconnect for me with this philosophy. Instead, the only thing I find that I wait
for is patience itself!
If you are like me, you may need a more radical way of
looking at patience. When I first
pondered this troublesome word (troublesome to me because I could not master
it), I was led to the Fruit of the Spirit
in which patience is one of nine virtues that reflect a follower of
Christ. They are all excellent virtues
which I really want to have. I dwelled
on the fact that they were described as fruit. To
me fruit is a by-product of a tree or
vine.
Think about it… how does fruit grow?
It doesn’t just pop out on a branch, does it? We don’t get instant apples, or groves of
grapes. Fruit grows and is nourished
from the vine it is connected to. In
John chapter 15 Jesus calls himself the vine and he talks about how to get this
fruit: “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must
remain in the vine. Neither can you bear
fruit unless you remain in me.”
Fruit cannot make itself because the vine is what
produces the fruit. This got me thinking about patience being a
by-product of something, or rather something that develops from an attribute of
Jesus (the Vine) rather than our own
efforts (waiting). In fact, I believe each
Fruit of the Spirit has a divine
attribute of God that gives it life, is responsible for the formation of the
bud and the continuation of its growth through constant nourishment (remain in me).
Jesus has shown me that what we really are searching for
are the attributes of God, instead
of figuring out ways to produce our own fruit.
When we adopt the attributes of God as virtues they make producing fruit easier! Granted, God’s attributes are vast beyond
measure, but when we know what they are we can pray for and practice them in
order to produce better fruit.
Let’s get back to patience. Waiting ≠ Patience, the divine attribute of HUMILITY
=
While God loves us for who we are, we don’t necessarily
love others the same way. Especially
when we are behind someone who is unskilled at using an ATM machine. Don’t we want everyone to move as fast as or
even faster than us? Don’t we want them
to have prices on all their groceries when they check out so that we don’t have
to wait for a price check? From waiting
in line to relationships that get out of line, our patience gets tested at
every turn. If we’re honest we expect others
to be as capable as or even more capable than we are. The ugly truth is that impatience rears its ugly head when we elevate our own needs above
someone else’s.
Patience is an
expression of humility which is the antidote to impatience. Humility puts aside our ego and says that I am
especially loved by God… along with everyone else! When you are mature in humility, patience no
longer becomes a waiting game, but rather the reflected virtue of our humble
Savior. Praying for and practicing HUMILITY will give you more patience. It transforms “Mirror Vision” to “Window
Vision”. Remaining in Jesus helps
develop humility so that you can see beyond yourself. When you realize that we are all flawed,
fallen and forgiven it reminds you how deeply loved we all are. The
love that fuels humility helps us think of others first, it attempts to
understand others and it makes no demands of others. This love is strong enough to remove the
impatience in our wait and extends grace in its place. I encourage you not to wait for patience
anymore. Instead, live patiently because humility has found a comfortable home in your spirit.
I'd love for you to share your thoughts by posting a comment below, and I encourage you to share if you know anyone else who fruitlessly prays for patience too!
I invite you to follow me on twitter @karynhumphries and visit my website karynhumphries.com
