(Wisdom Wednesday) What Ever Happened to Patience?
On September 6th, 1620 the Mayflower set sail from England and arrived at Plymouth Rock on November 9th, 1620. This was a 66 day journey! Today, we can jump on a plane and be almost anywhere in the world in 24hrs. A few years ago I travelled to Hungary; between layovers and bus travel it was about a 24hr trip. Instead of thinking, “Wow, that only took 24 hours!” I thought, “Wow, that took for-ever!” Truthfully, I don’t like to travel more than 20 minutes to get anywhere… Unfortunately, it seems that in our high paced society many of us have lost the concept of patience. If we could, we would have a microwave version of everything in life. Sadly, that’s not the way the world always works and having this mentality can hurt the way we interact with those we care about.
Don’t get me wrong… I love modern conveniences as much as anyone, but I know I take them for granted. When the service at a restaurant is slow, we complain. When our package arrives a day late, we complain. If we don’t have time to go to the store, we just order it off of Amazon. For many, the time and effort it takes to cook a healthy meal is just not worth the effort and patience. If we are out we grab something from the drive-thru. If we are home, we get something out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave; less than 5 minutes later, dinner is served! You might be wondering why I think this is even something worth writing about… I’m about to get there.
As a result of this “microwave” mentality, I think we also tend to cut corners in other areas of our lives to save time. This can be unhealthy for us and our relationships with people around us. We want our spouse to love us, but we don’t spend much time serving them and expressing our affections. The same can be said of the way we interact with our children. Or maybe we are just beginning a relationship with someone and instead of taking the time to get to know them, we want to jump to what is most pleasurable for ourselves. For those who believe in God, maybe you were praying for something and you gave up because God did not answer quickly enough. Or maybe there is a someone in your life that needs your help, and you just aren’t willing to give them the time that is necessary to help them. For students, maybe instead of giving your best effort, you try to get the cliff notes version of everything. And I could go on and on… These tendencies are all results of living in a high paced lifestyle, and the end result is stressful and unfulfilling.
Molière, a French playwright said,“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” Aristotle similarly said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Today, I want to encourage you to not be so quick to get to the next thing that you forget to enjoy the journey. I also want to encourage you to make time for those you love, be patient when things take longer than you would like, and be thankful for all of the modern conveniences that should give you the time to be able to prioritize the important things in life.
4 Responses
Very well put! I agree, we live in a world now where we can get just about any information at our fingertips. If I could choose which era I lived in, I would choose the 40’s or 50’s. Yes, because there is and always has been sin in this world, no era in time is perfect. But it seems like it was more peaceful and simpler then. Patience was more of a given in a way. Communication was better and more mystery- you had to wait to get that important phone call, there was no texting. You had excitement of a letter in the mail, etc.
Liz, thanks for being my first comment! I’m spoiled with modern conveniences, so there are definitely some things I would miss… but every once in a while I get away from them. When I do, life does seem much less stressful and I’m able to enjoy the simple things a lot more.
Justin, thank you for publishing this. I often think we live in an Amazon society and sadly our patience is defined very differently. It’s a constant struggle to remember that patience is virtuous and more importantly a fruit of the Spirit.
An Amazon society is another good way to visualize it! And I agree, the fruit of patience comes as a result of us allowing God to work in our lives through his Spirit. Thanks for commenting!
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