VICAR
Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your loved ones are well and warm. It seems We name even the slightest storm these days but the Beast from the East does have a certain ring about it that makes one bring in sufficient logs for the fire.
This week I would like to focus on patience.
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Romans 12: 12
It is too easy in these days of lockdown to get impatient. You’re running out of box sets. Your fellow shoppers are not shopping by the rules and breach Your space. You are fed up with Your bubble and want to go see Your friend or family member. There are plenty of reasons to be impatient.
The way around the problem of patience is getting in the right mindset and taking one’s time to react. The mindset You need is humility. Be humble and then the slightest burden or infraction can be received as reminders of Your lowliness before God. Suffer the call from the fool. Accept that the annoying friend is going through a bad patch. Show empathy and try to understand them. Take a deep breath and get on.
They say patience is a skill that can be acquired But how can I learn it faster?!?! The fact is that even the most patient of people are finding this lockdown somewhat irksome. As one man told me the other day, he was enjoying spending time with his children but there was a limit to how much time they enjoyed spending with him. These difficulties are nothing, I told him, compared to those who I have seen in hospital and those waiting for dying loved ones at home.
I hope that You have a pleasant Sunday and a positive week ahead. That You find in Yourselves the patience to carry on, with hope in your hearts. There is not long to go now before the snow melts and the spring emerges. Let us have the patience to see that. God bless You all.
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to walk in spirit and truth, to walk humbly before You and to learn to be graciously patient, especially when I am with other people. Lord, I want to live a life that is honouring to You and to fulfil the role that You have given me to do within the body of Christ.
Help me to be quick to listen to other people and not always be the one that wants other people to always listen to me. Help me to listen in love, not only their needs and hopes and fears but to listen to their advice and their opinions. May I be an encouragement to them, someone who lifts up the other person and considers their needs before my own.
Help me to really listen to what they say and not to be waiting for an opportunity for me to discuss my opinions or display my own intelligence. Give me the grace and patience to be a good listener I pray, so that I may demonstrate the love of Jesus to all around me. In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.