When Patience Is the Overflow
Have you ever asked yourself how can I have more patience? Or asked why am I so easily frustrated by things I can hardly remember outside the moment?
I find myself here often as a stay-at-home mom to four young children. For some reason, “Please do not hit your sisters” doesn’t sound as polite the tenth time I’ve said it.
My empty attempts of be more patient, Melissa and stay calm are not really the kind of strategy that hold up over the long haul, so I moved on to asking myself if patient is even possible at all.
It was this question that led me to pray about it — ironically frustrated and impatient. When I was asking the Father to make me more patient — thick-skinned, imperturbable, etc. — I began to wonder what he might be thinking of me. I tried to picture how he must look as I came to him in my frustration, wanting to be patient now. Were his arms crossed? His brows furrowed? Did he have his hands held upside down, shrugging his shoulders, wondering what in the world he was going to do with me?
Or, maybe instead, he would drop to his knee and open his arms wide, inviting me with a smile. “Come here. Just come.”
It was imaging this picture when I realized that God never doubts the work he is doing in me. As much as I might doubt his work, he’s never thought twice about it. My frustration and anger and impatience is rooted in my lack of control and a hopelessness that nothing will ever change. And if my little world determined things, those feelings would absolutely be right to think. But it isn’t.
God doesn’t wring his hands in worry when we get it wrong as if all hope is lost — because he never once doubts his power in our lives and where he is bringing us (Philippians 1:6). It’s a far greater and truer reality than I can feel and perceive. The beauty of the good news of Jesus is that God has said worse about me than I or others could ever say. And at the same time, he has declared the best thing about me that could ever be imagined — he has called me his own, his daughter. He redeemed me by the blood of his Son, sealed by the power of his Spirit. There are no exceptions, no “but,” no “only,” no “ifs.” Because I have been united to Jesus by faith, I am his, forever.
It is good to remember that “I-can’t-but-he-can” feeling. Rejoice in the steadfast love of a God who knows intimately the distress of your soul (Psalm 31:7). Put all your trust in him as he plants you like a green olive tree (Psalm 52:8). Know he is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in his steadfast love and faithfulness to you (Psalm 86:15) and from there . . . patience is the overflow.
