Feeling Impatient?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering...” Galatians 5:22

This is the King James Version Bible. Other versions use the word “patience” in place of the word “long-suffering.” I suppose both words include the same meaning; but the word long-suffering conveys the emotion involved.

Lately I have wondered: “Why am I feeling so much strain and heartache? Why do I keep failing at being patient?” Somehow I have it in my head that patience is a feeling of calm without pain. But if the Bible calls it long-suffering... maybe my feelings of suffering are in order!

Looking at the definitions, I see an action aspect and an emotional aspect of patience.

patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset

long-suffering: forbearance, fortitude, to bear up under, endure

The fruit of the Spirit, long-suffering/patience, will affect our actions. We will forbear to do what we feel like doing. We will continue on in our waiting. We won’t yell, lash out, be rude, etc. But notice that we will feel troubled and suffer. We will “bear up under and endure” which requires emotional strain and pain.

Think about it, many situations requiring patience also require some sort of suffering. Whether you are waiting for someone to get out of the bathroom or living with an alcoholic, your patience is going to cause you some degree of discomfort or downright suffering.

Patience is not being free from suffering; it is suffering long! That sounds terrible!... except for the fact that if one is not suffering long in this pain-filled world, it is because they are dead and only had to suffer short! Galatians 5:22 is promising that the Holy Spirit of God will bring this “fruit” of patience to our lives that we may be able to endure, keep going, carry on, suffer long... as long as needed.

To feel the strain does not necessarily mean that one has failed to be patient. We shouldn’t be discouraged if we feel the suffering. Rather we should be encouraged by the fact that God has given us the ability to endure in spite of our feelings.

Look at the great amount of long-suffering He has!...

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation...’ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise [to return and take us home], as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:3,4,9

The Peace of a Wet Nest

I have been visiting a lady who Pastors three churches in three small towns in Iowa. Every time I visit her the phone is ringing from church members needing this or that. Her mother recently moved in with her, which is helpful because she does all she can as secretary for her daughter. But the mother is elderly and having trouble getting around, so she can only help so much. One of the churches had a member who needed a place to stay, so arrangements were made for this lady to live with my Pastor friend and help out with secretarial work and housework. But this new “helper” has some mental issues which come out in temper tantrums, a bedroom waist-high full of stuff with only a path to the bed... and last time I went to visit, the helper was sitting on the edge of her bed, stark naked, hollering that she was going to go to bed “right now!” and wouldn’t help any more that day (it was 7pm). On top of all that, my Pastor friend is completely blind! (I think she was born blind) And I had been thinking that my life was too chaotic!

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...

No doubt all of us wish we had more peace in our lives. Whether we are just too busy, or dealing with circumstances like my blind Pastor friend, peace is more than welcome.

That study I read, on the “Fruit of the Spirit,” told the story of two painters who were both asked to paint a picture illustrating the concept of peace. One man painted a gorgeous mountain setting with a secluded, alpine lake. Solitude and restfulness were clearly portrayed in his masterpiece of art. The other man painted a rocky outcrop with a roaring waterfall bursting off the edge and crashing into the river below. You could almost hear the deafening roar of the waterfall and feel the sprays of water. And in the crook of a sapling tree that leaned out over the foaming river, almost wet with the mists, was a little bird sitting on her nest, cozy and serene.

Surely that little bird portrays the kind of peace we need today! Life isn’t going to slow down and become less chaotic. Circumstances are tough for everyone. The first painter’s mountain-top ideal may never happen in our lives; and if it does, it won’t last long enough! Peace in the midst of it all is what we need.

Where do we get such peace? Like all the other fruit, it is “of the Spirit.” Only a connection with the God who lives above the chaos of this earth, can root us securely in a place out of reach of the roaring destruction all around us.

“...These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” - Jesus (John 16:33)