Is Patience the Wonder?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a devotional for my church about patience. We are studying the Fruit of the Spirit this year. We often think of patience as waiting for something. At some level, that may be true. But I think the fruit of patience has more to do with something much deeper...

Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.”

Anyone tired of waiting for the world to get better? For that right person for you to come along? For that clear answer? For something to change? For the grief to end? 

It’s hard to be patient sometimes with these realities. But what if patience isn’t really about waiting? What if patience isn’t about the outcome, or the answer, or the arrival, or the “end” to whatever it is? 

That requires a lot of trust, when things are incomplete, or we don’t know how things will turn out. But maybe patience has something to teach in the discomfort, the incompleteness, the doubt, as an invitation to something in the in-between. So much so that if and when something good comes along, it isn’t necessarily met with relief, or with “finally!” But instead it is met with joy.

I tend to be very patient in chaotic situations, and with other people, but I struggle with patience with myself. But patience, in the holy sense of it, is being gracious with myself when I am self-critical. It’s seeking to be kind when I feel anger, and it’s staying calm in the overwhelm. There’s a wholeness that. 

I’m also not very patient with God. I doubt God. A lot. Yet, when I dwell in mystery and let go of guilt about doubt, I often find something really close to the possibility of that God I doubt. And in that, I have found a sense of wonder, an attention to divine details in my surroundings, which is such an enhancement to my faith than any sort of certainty is.

Remember when you were a kid (those who lived before things like Amazon’s one-click, same day delivery) and you would sometimes forget about the package that was on the way? But when the package came you had this joy when you remembered it- saying, “Oh, yeah!” 

Or do you remember when you didn’t know the answer to something for a while, because you didn’t have a computer in your pocket, and when you later discovered an answer to a question, you said, “I have always wondered about that!” Is patience the wonder? 

What was going on in the in-between when that package was still on its way, or when you didn’t know an answer right away, and you kind of forgot about them?

You were living. You released control. You weren’t really waiting anymore. You were patient, not because you were waiting, but because you were present. Maybe patience is a way of being, and really feeling the fullness of joy, even if it is a rare occurrence on the way to justice.

When we rejoice in hope, we’re still hoping for something. When we are patient in affliction, it doesn’t mean affliction will never happen again, and when we pray in our perseverance, we recognize why prayer matters, and it’s not about an outcome.

And through all of it, perhaps God is being patient. Not waiting for us, but also present- with us…showing up through these small, yet profound moments in nature, in community, in love. Patience may be the thing that reminds us who we are, and who God is, in all of the in-between.

Check out our church’s “Patience” playlist of songs (we have playlists for each Fruit!):