Have Patience

May the God of patience and encouragement grant you to live
in harmony with one another. —Romans 15:5

I love this passage that speaks about God’s patience—God’s steadfast patience. I love it because it makes so much sense about who God is. It is unimaginable that God would create we humans a little lower than the angels, fearfully made, and not seek to work patiently with us as the potter does the lump of clay.

When I reflect over my life it is abundantly clear that God has been steadfastly patient with me. In my slowness to learn the simplest of Jesus teachings and how they might improve my life, God has kept on teaching. In the horrible choices I have made, God has not been there to beat me up, but to apply the balm of grace when I have beaten up on myself.

Patience and encouragement really are the main ingredients of harmony. They certainly pay dividends in our relationships. A marriage is much more harmonious when both spouses are patient and encouraging with each other. A family is much more harmonious when parents are patient and encouraging with their children.

It is never too late for a wandering world to come home to this idea either. Lucille Clifton is one of the great poets of the last century. In one of her poems she writes:

God waits for the wandering world.
he expects us when we enter,
late or soon.
he will not mind my coming after hours.
his patience is his promise.

It is a new day and no matter how it goes, it will not be too late in our wanderings to bring this day to God, even after hours.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, there are challenges ahead for me this day. It may be the challenge of something great or simply the challenge of the routine and the trivial. Whatever they may be let me not forget that as I wander through them I may, whether now or after hours, entrust them to your steadfast care. Amen.

C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana