Posts Tagged: Luke 21:19
“Patience, the Gift You Give to Yourself”
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
“In your patience possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21:19, King James Version, italics mine)
“By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:19, New American Standard, 1995, italics mine)
It was a fairly rough evening at Bob Evans last night. It started out dead as a mortician’s embalming room. However, we got several large parties at about the same time. One lady (party of two?), wouldn’t even be seated after complaining about the slow service. (Confession: I hope that she had to wait even longer at another restaurant! I’m not proud of that thought, but there it is.)
It is difficult for me not to let the impatience of others flood my own heart, and mind, and soul. I need to be a less permeable dam. However, if I let an impatient person make me an impatient person, all you’ve got are two impatient people. And such impatience can and does spread faster than the flu. Soon, there will likely be a lot of impatient people. Probably, impatience is even deadlier than the flu.
Another way to look at this is to say that I need to avoid theft. Other people’s stuff is other people’s stuff. I wouldn’t think of stealing other people’s money or electronic devices. Why should I steal other people’s emotions? Why should I steal someone else’s impatience? I’ve never tried to fence anything stolen, but I suspect that I would not get much for my own impatience, much less for someone else’s. I wouldn’t even know who was the unscrupulous pawn broker who would deal in stolen emotions.
Patience is not simply a virtue. Patience is a wonderful gift I give myself.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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