Being patient is an expression of love. It requires that we stop trying to control others’ ideas and actions. It is to allow others to mature at a pace that is different from our own. Patience desires not to crush the spirit of another. Before you impatiently react to “something stupid” someone else has done, pause and remember the stupid things that you have done. Be as long-suffering with them as God was with you. Patience expresses compassion; Patience needs humility; it needs the capacity to keep forgiving. Patience has the capacity to change souls and their stories; it is no small thing.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Colossians 3:12-13 (NRSV)
