TEXT: Galatians 5:22-25
The Fruit of the Spirit - Part 4: Patience
I love to hear people define certain words to me. It really lets you know their perspective on the matter. For instance, you may ask someone what the word “love” means. One person, after a recent break-up, may say that love is blindness & deception. But ask them again when things aren’t so gloomy & they may have the opinion that love is bliss & wonderful. Two totally different opinions on the same word. So it’s no wonder that people have different perspectives on patience.
Some may think it implies a relaxed & laidback attitude regarding life. This applies to the grandma who sits at a green light, still looking both ways to make sure it’s safe to drive through the intersection. As I barrel down the streets of Katy, I think about patience in my life. And I think driving is a good illustration, so we’ll stick with that. After watching a 200 mph NASCAR race, I’m prone to go a little faster than the state recommends. However, I can be in a mood where I want to take a nice & slow drive. “Always take the scenic route,” as Robert Fulgham says. So some times, it’s nice to slow down. But how is it in our minds, that anyone who drives slower than us is a moron & anyone who drives faster than us is a maniac.
I’ve actually been contemplating for some time to go buy a swing for the back porch. It would be nice to sit for awhile with my wife & daughter, sip on some hot apple cider & swing away. “But, who’s got time for that,” I think to myself. And back into the impatient mode I go.
When I think about patience, which is not too often unfortunately, I think about being a father. Now that is patience personified. Other than love, I don’t know of any quality that fatherhood requires outside of patience. You see, fathers are told in Proverbs 19:11, “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” So we think, I’ll just go easy on the kid. Yes, he put a peanut butter & jelly sandwich in the VCR, but if you’re wise you should overlook the matter. However, Proverbs also tells us confused dads, that if you withhold a good beating, you hate your kid. As you can see, that leaves us in quite a dilemma. Should we overlook an offense & thus be deemed wise, patient & hateful? Or should we give him the beating of a lifetime, yet be stupid, impatient & loving. Fatherhood is so much more complicated than I ever imagined.
I don’t think anyone who ever lived exemplified patience, as did Moses. When we think of Moses, several different scenarios & stories may catch our attention. But I want us to focus on a certain time period in Moses’ eventful & long life. This time period lasted 40 years, but it’s not the 40 years where he walked around in the desert with the other liberated slaves. It’s the 40 years prior to that.
If you look back in the Genesis, you discover why Israel had their own land. The Egyptians hated shepherds & thought they were of the lowest class. Thus, the land of Goshen became their home. Moses had quite a demotion when he left Egypt. He went from being son to a shepherd. He went from being loved to being loathed. There are many people who feel that they are in dead-end jobs, but I would say that a shepherd takes the cake.
Basically, you sit & watch sheep all day & all night. You protect them from predators. You help the mama sheep give birth to the lambs. You talk to them, you play with them, you stink like them, but you have a bond with them. Then one day, you shear them & kill them for food. It’s kind of like shaving your best friend’s head & inviting the family over for barbeque.
Even though there aren’t many shepherds around anymore, we can still learn a lot from them. One thing in particular, is their staff. It’s hooked end helps lift lambs from dangerous places & ledges; it’s blunt end is to strike would-be attackers to protect the flock; it also serves as a cane to help steady the shepherd as he walks with the flock. And to think, Moses did this undesirable & unfulfilling job for 40 years.
In the summer after my sophomore year in college, I stayed with my parents in DeQueen, Arkansas. It was not a big town; it was not an exciting town. As a matter of fact, the town stunk. But that was largely in part to the chicken processing plant that was on the outside of town. One day, I got the news from my father, “You’ve got a job interview at Pilgrim’s Pride chicken plant.” I was, of course, less than thrilled. I began reflecting, “What have I done to my father to deserve this? Was I a terrible son, that I should have to endure a chicken processing plant for the summer?” I told my father that they had better have an office job for me.
Because of having a church member in the office, I got the next best thing, if there is such a thing in a chicken plant. I got a job working from 4pm to “whenever the work was done” in the “Chill-Pack” department. This is where the dirty work had already been done & it was our job to ship it around the world to feed hungry people. At least, that’s what I told myself when a container of chicken hearts burst all over my clothes one day. Still, I tried to hang in there. I would get motion sickness every once in a while & would conveniently have to go home sick.
But it all came to a climax one day that summer. There was not enough work for everyone to do that night, so I had been selected for a special assignment. Along with a co-worker, I was suited up to go down to the killing floor. As I entered the pit of death, there were all manners of sharp instruments used in processing these chickens. I was pointed to a stack of 10 tubs full of various chicken parts. It was now my job to figure out what it was & place it on a hook that went by for my co-workers.
I have never been a chicken part aficionado, so this job was harder than it seems. As I looked up and saw the hooks, conveyors, & slicing instruments, I began to get motion sickness all over again. This time, I welcomed its arrival. I told one of the supervisors about my condition & he wouldn’t allow me to go to the nurse’s station. The foreman was at dinner & only he could send me to the nurse. So I offered to puke on the floor. At that point, the supervisor compromised & said I could go to the bathroom. I stayed in that smoke-filled bathroom for 45 minutes. And then, I left. I took off all of my rubber gear, hung it on the wall, clocked out & went home. After only a month of frustration, undesirable working conditions & unfulfillment in the business world, I through with Pilgrim’s Pride, and with chicken in general for a month or so.
When I think of patience, I picture old Moses & the shepherd’s staff: 40 years of leading a bunch of dumb sheep. That was really good practice for his leadership over the people of Israel for 40 years. The staff sure came in handy. It turned water to blood, it turned the Red Sea into a highway, it brought forth water from a rock and it turned the tide of battles for Israel.
When I think of how little patience I have at times, I think I would have been leading the sheep with a baseball bat. You see, a staff has some offensive uses, but it is primarily a defensive & practical tool. However, a baseball bat is all offense. It’s only good for one thinking, whacking something. It’s also very intimidating. I guarantee you, if Moses had a baseball bat, you would not read about the murmuring & complaining from the Israelites. If they had something to say, he would have gotten the bat ready for a good swing at a target right above the shoulders & let loose. Now that’s leadership!
Unfortunately, that’s not how God sees it. It is by patience that we receive ultimate salvation. It is by patience that people stay steadfast & wait for Christ’s return. It is by patience that we inherit what has been promised to us. It is through patience that we show our love to each other.
The world tells us, “Carpe Diem,” or “Seize the day.” I think it is important to seize the opportunities that God places in front of us. But I think it’s equally as important to “Stop & smell the roses.”
Have you ever sat down and tried to write a poem, a song, or a story? Maybe you tried to paint, but just couldn’t find the inspiration. A couple of hours pass & you decide to finally turn in for the night. Then a flood of creativity hits us & we immediately want to get up & start working on that stuff again. I think to get the most out of life, we need to slow down & not speed up. We have no patience with the people who drive slower than us on the freeway. We can’t give up a few seconds of time to a person who hesitates at the stoplight. We hate waiting in line, but we do it so much.
We get in such a hurry at times & I think we need to remember what the Apostle James said in chapter 5, “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, and how patient he is for the autumn & spring rains. You too, be patient & stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”
Patience is taking the scenic route. Patience is letting other people go before us & not making a big deal when they take longer than expected. Patience is realizing that slow-roasted coffee tastes so much better than Instant Folgers. Patience is slowing down enough for God to show you all the opportunities you have to minister to others.
My wife & I had been spending some time with my brother & his friend at the mall. There is this place that has state-of-the-art video games & grown adults, like myself, pay good money to mess around on this stuff. So we were leaving for the night, & I just so happened to see a car with its hazard lights on. When I was a bachelor, I would stop all the time to help people. But with my wife in the car, I have to be more selective at times, because I have to be sure of her safety. But I looked & standing beside the car was a 10-year-old girl. Her dad was underneath the car desperately trying to work the tire jack. So I told my wife of my intentions to help them & she gave me her blessing.
I figured the biggest problem was the he couldn’t see, so I positioned my car properly & hit the “brights” to give him plenty of light. I went over & helped him change his flat tire. The whole time, he thanked me for helping him. He said that he could have done it himself, but there was no way he could see what he was doing.
He offered to pay me for my help, and I refused. I told him that I was a Christian & that I was just glad that I had slowed down enough to see that they needed help.
Patience is slowing down enough to see the people in need around us & lending a helping hand.
