Patience – It is a Virtue Worth Patiently Pursuing

Looking back on my life there are so many instances where a little patience on my part could have gone a long way. I can tell you so many stories where a little patience would have served me much better than the way I handled certain situations. Part of my problem stems from my tendency to live in the future instead of staying patient and staying in the moment. My first request of you, don’t live in the future, stay in the present and enjoy every moment of it. Being inpatient and jumping ahead can only leave a void in your life experience that you can never fill – you missed the opportunity.

The Bible talks about virtues in terms of how they intertwine with sin. It identifies the seven deadly sins as pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth (laziness.) It then contrasts those sins with the seven Biblical virtues, humility, charity, chastity, gratitude, temperance, patience and diligence. It is easy to see how they counteract each other. You can’t be proud and humble at the same time. Gluttony deflects gratitude. Charity will always triumph over greed and practicing temperance will prevent gluttony.

Today I want to explore patience. The whole idea for this post came to me as I waited on the phone, for what seemed like an unreasonable amount of time, to get an answer about a situation revolving around my health insurance. I had made two calls to the customer service department, both of which ended with a quick, short, out of the book answer to my question. It seemed as though the customer service representatives were inpatient and simply wanted to get rid of me. Being the inpatient person I am and not being satisfied with the answer I was given, I called again. This time the call was answered by a man I guessed was older than the two previous representatives, a man who would earnestly work on my behalf. After explaining the situation, the gentleman went to work, trying to negotiate his way through the labyrinth of administration at the insurance company. After the first 30 minutes my patience was running thin. I could not believe it was taking so long but that was just the start of things. An hour into the phone call, “Dennis”, told me he would need to put me on hold for a few minutes while he contacted another department in the company to get a clarification. After three attempts to reach the needed department, over about 30 minutes, Dennis returned to the phone, apologized for the lengthy delay and said he would need to place me on hold again. At this point the call was going past two hours! The temperature in the room was rising with the heat coming out of the top of my head. I was ready to explode. It was one of those situations when I had a little devil sitting on my right shoulder telling me to seize the moment, take control, show them who is important and who they answer to. Don’t put up with these delays. Make your demands now, regardless of how you make the customer service rep feel. However, sitting on my left shoulder was a little angel. She kept whispering in my ear, “patience, patience, patience, he is working hard to try to help you. Tell the customer service rep you appreciate everything he is doing to resolve your issue.” Funny thing, as I considered her plea for patience, the top of my head started to cool off, I released the strangle grip I had on my phone, and I realized that blowing up would not get me an answer. This guy probably gets blasted all day long by inpatient people and jumping on the pile would serve absolutely no purpose. Losing patience rarely pays dividends.

Now, looking back at the whole series of events leading up to that phone call I am convinced God is leading me through a lesson on patience. It’s not like He is picking on me or being mean to me. God isn’t mean, He isn’t vengeful and despite what some churches preach He doesn’t hate us for our screwups. Why on earth would he send His son, Jesus, to save us if he hated us? He will however use our self-created circumstances to show us the way back to the life He wants for us rather than allowing us to stay on a path that will not end well. He wants us to lead a really full life, a life filled with adventure, love, freedom, relationships, beauty and with the knowledge that He loves us more than we can possibly understand. I now realize, this whole injury thing is going to give me time to re-evaluate what I have been doing and where I am going from here. It is all about patience because given the recovery period I am facing becoming inpatient, not rehabilitating earnestly and not following the doctors orders will only lead to an even longer and more difficult recovery period. When I was younger I would not have done well because everything was about being in control, never slowing down, literally foaming at the mouth in my desire to reach the next rung on the ladder. This time I have no choice but to be patient, there is no option for fast forwarding through the recovery period. If I don’t learn about patience through this experience I am hopeless. I have no choice but to live in the moment and make the best of the opportunity it will present.

In Proverbs 15:18 the Bible says, A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger (patient) quiets contention. St. Cyprian of Carthage, an important early Christian writer said it this way, “Patience makes men humble in prosperity, brave in adversity, meek in the face of injuries and insults.” Patience is a virtue worth pursuing and learning the value of patience will serve you in every pursuit you embrace. Don’t be like me, make patience a part of your countenance. It will strengthen your family relationships, improve your performance in the work place, positively impact your friends, improve your health and outlook on life and most importantly it will draw you closer to God because you will be able to patiently listen to what He wants your life to be. There are no losers in the pursuit and practice of patience.