Welcome to Happy Snowflake Dance!

It's my experiment in joyful, marrow-sucking living.
Inspired by George Santayana's poem,
There May Be Chaos Still Around the World

" They threat in vain; the whirlwind cannot awe
A happy snow-flake dancing in the flaw. "


My Mission: a daily journey into Openness.

I hope you'll come along!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

I'm TRYING to be patient!

Perhaps, I am too impatient, but I have so little to write about patience. My gut instinct tells me that when I walk in peace and love and gratitude, then patience abounds, because I begin to see the whole picture. Details irritate me less. People irritate me less. I become more understanding. Proverbs 14:29 says a patient man has great understanding..so he doesn't get easily riled or ruffled.

We know that love is patient. The opposite is also true, impatience is NOT love. Patience implies endurance...like running a long-distance race. We don't expect to get to the finish line in 10 seconds. We know that we have to run and slog it out for 26.2 miles if we are running a marathon. We don't win if we stop at 26 miles. We don't get a prize if we quit or give up at 15 miles. Patience sees the end goal and the prize and plods ahead in order to gain the reward.

Paul wrote about it in his letter to the people at Corinth in Greece. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

In China they have an expression which says you should be able to swallow an entire ocean, so you will not lose face. It's no credit to you if you lose your temper. Losing one's temper in China is considered VERY bad form and shameful. We know this and yet we snipe and gripe and get irritated with one another. But we are the losers. We are the ones who look bad. The nastiness in our hearts betrays us when we become impatient with others. We become the bad guy.

Maybe patience sees others through eyes of grace and faith. When we see ourselves and others like C.S. Lewis once spoke about in his famous sermon called "The Weight of Glory"; maybe when we see that we are helping others to either eternal glory or eternal hell, we begin to treat each other with great patience, knowing that that is how God treats us. When we see the potential in others, rather than the behaviors or words which irritate us, we begin to respond to others with patience, knowing that we are also flawed and in need of great grace.

Then we are less quick to judge, less quick to react in anger, less likely to berate, less driven to be "right" or to win arguments, less impatient. THEN we become patient, long-suffering, enduring, persevering.

Patience is, in a sense, a resignation to God's timetable; understanding that God exists outside of our time-space continuum. That's why Peter wrote that we should be patient and understand that to God a day is like a thousand years and thousand years like a day. His timing is perfect because he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Time didn't even exist until the fall of man, when death was introduced to the world. And now we measure our days, but the wise man is patient until the Lord's coming.

James gave us the example of a farmer who waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and patiently waits for the autumn and spring rains. So we, too, must be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. And James continues the thought with this warning: "Don't grumble against each other, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!"

There it is again....my words and attitudes! It's not enough to be patient or even to endure, but I must add to it a cheerful, thankful attitude. In fact, I doubt it is possible to BE patient with others if I don't already recognize grace and gratitude in my own life. So it's back to gratitude and love as a foundation. On that I build patience and character.

Here it is again in Romans 5: 1-5- "Therefore, since we have been justified through FAITH, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by FAITH into this GRACE in which we now stand. And we REJOICE in the HOPE of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also REJOICE (even) in our sufferings, because we KNOW that suffering produces PERSEVERANCE; perseverance, CHARACTER; and character, HOPE! And we know that HOPE does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his LOVE into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." WOW! That is powerful. I get patience or perseverance by walking in relationship to God, understanding his grace and peace.

So I have to stay connected to God....kind of like that branch/vine thing he talked in the gospel of John (15). Without him, I can do nothing. But when I'm connected to him, all things are possible and I get to produce really neat fruit that is a blessing to others!

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