I am trying to learn the art of patience. I have tried to apply discipline to my thoughts when I become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure.
Here are some quotes on patience.
Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success. Brian Adams
Patience is the greatest of all virtues. Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world. Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Waiting on the Holy Spirit--Living by His clock
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." -- Psalm 37:7
Waiting is not something many of us do well. Our culture engenders a sort of vending machine mentality in us. We want things instantly. Our computers never seem to be fast enough. We insist that stores open more cash registers when there are more than 3 customers in check-out lines. We eat lunch in restaurants that guarantee food on our tables in under five minutes. We want direct flights because we hate to change planes. Because we want to do it all and do it now, we cram far too many things into our calendars. Thus, God's "not yet" can sound like a "not ever" to our ears.
Many of us would have been very impatient after Jesus' resurrection. Having Him tell us to sit around Jerusalem waiting might have bothered us. After a few days in the Upper Room, some of us would have walked out the door. We'd have told the others they could wait all they wanted to. In the end, we would have wound up very disappointed because of our feeling that we couldn't wait on His timing.
A. B. Simpson once wrote: "There are some spiritual conditions that cannot be accomplished in a moment. The breaking up of the fallow ground takes time. The frosts of winter are as necessary as the rains of spring to prepare the soil for fertility. God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow process of His discipline, and grind every particle to power, and then to mellow us and saturate us with His blessed Spirit, until we are open for the blessing He has to give us."
One product of a patient waiting on the Lord is the fostering of godly perspectives. If we'll back off from rushing things and not insist on moving too quickly, we'll gain wisdom. Not long ago, Queen Esther Marrow and The Harlem Gospel Singers recorded a song titled: "You Can't Hurry God, He's Right On Time." How true!
A.B. Simpson finishes that earlier paragraph with this plea: "Oh, let us wait upon the Lord with brokenness of heart, with openness of soul, with willingness of spirit, to hear what God the Lord will say!"
Waiting is not something many of us do well. Our culture engenders a sort of vending machine mentality in us. We want things instantly. Our computers never seem to be fast enough. We insist that stores open more cash registers when there are more than 3 customers in check-out lines. We eat lunch in restaurants that guarantee food on our tables in under five minutes. We want direct flights because we hate to change planes. Because we want to do it all and do it now, we cram far too many things into our calendars. Thus, God's "not yet" can sound like a "not ever" to our ears.
Many of us would have been very impatient after Jesus' resurrection. Having Him tell us to sit around Jerusalem waiting might have bothered us. After a few days in the Upper Room, some of us would have walked out the door. We'd have told the others they could wait all they wanted to. In the end, we would have wound up very disappointed because of our feeling that we couldn't wait on His timing.
A. B. Simpson once wrote: "There are some spiritual conditions that cannot be accomplished in a moment. The breaking up of the fallow ground takes time. The frosts of winter are as necessary as the rains of spring to prepare the soil for fertility. God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow process of His discipline, and grind every particle to power, and then to mellow us and saturate us with His blessed Spirit, until we are open for the blessing He has to give us."
One product of a patient waiting on the Lord is the fostering of godly perspectives. If we'll back off from rushing things and not insist on moving too quickly, we'll gain wisdom. Not long ago, Queen Esther Marrow and The Harlem Gospel Singers recorded a song titled: "You Can't Hurry God, He's Right On Time." How true!
A.B. Simpson finishes that earlier paragraph with this plea: "Oh, let us wait upon the Lord with brokenness of heart, with openness of soul, with willingness of spirit, to hear what God the Lord will say!"
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