“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…”
Impatience stems from thinking that everything and everyone needs to follow a great script written by you and when people don’t follow the script as you wrote, then you are justified to show a director’s fury.
But you see, you don’t write the script for your children and friends. God is the director of our lives. His script for our lives is from everlasting. And when we rush to anger with our fellow actors and actresses, we are acting as if we are self-creators of our own stories. We are supplanting God’s function in our stories as the great writer. On the other hand, patience treats others with the dignity of fellow travelers in this great cosmic narrative.
To accept one another as fellow protagonists in God’s story is to let love cover a multitude of sins, and at times to rebuke those who sin. Patience is a call to wisdom as we accept the humanity of others, but also manifest our Christian witness before the world. God writes, and we perform as image-bearers, but performing is always an act of grace best served in the meal of patience.
Prayer: O Blessed Lord, you showed patience throughout your earthly life. You overthrew tables when it was necessary and you showed care to the least of these always. Your heart is a heart of blessed patience with those whom you’ve chosen. Grant us the gift of waiting for you, and grant us the gift of seeing our brothers and sisters as fellow travelers in our great journey through God’s theater. We pray this through Christ our Lord, amen.
