December 24, 2009
Home For the Holidays
My Great Aunt Cleo just passed away from a heart attack and I am REJOICING for her! A strong willed, card-carrying American Baptist her whole life, she spoke her mind to everyone - including the Lord. She’s always said, “They may not like what I have to say, but at least they’ll know what I think.” These last few years Cleo has been unhappy with the Lord because she’d made up her mind she was ready to go to heaven and He wasn’t cooperating. Having to go into an assisted living facility it was like the last straw. She refused to use a walker and much to her disappointment when she fell all she got was a few bruises. I really think she was just trying to give the Lord a hand…you break a hip, go to the hospital…and then you die. Right now I can picture Aunt Cleo bending the Lord’s ear wanting to know why it took Him so long to bring her home and the Lord saying, “Patience Cleo, you needed patience.”
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Gail;
-----Being listed amongst the fruit of the Spirit, patience is important to the new life. The fact that righteousness is not in the list attests to the fundamental nature of those nine traits that are listed. Each plays a basic role in the development of such virtues as honor, respect, forbearance, forgiveness, repentance, righteousness, etc., as well as that of the other fruit. The role patience plays is both complex and far reaching.
-----It is complex because it not only holds us together in adverse times, but it also builds us up in good times. It dismisses our lack of knowledge about situations and adds to the knowledge we have. For patience is about a perspective of the whole system of events that contains the situation at hand, and perspective is more important to the moment than knowledge. Time and location constrain our knowledge, whereas God’s system of plans transcends both. Whether we know a great deal or nothing at all, perspective better fits us into His plans, providing us strength for adversity and joy from prosperity, and benefiting Him with our participation. Then, if we are able to faithfully found our sense of well being upon the blessings His ideas promise, we break free from our sense of struggle. We become more capable of engaging the details of any time or place, good or bad, well known or unknown, and learning from them. Therefore, the key to simplifying patience and grasping it is the perspective of His will and the knowledge of His promises. And the keyhole is our willingness to assess any situation accordingly.
-----Patience reaches far by making possible the humble alignment of our will with what He allows to happen. This alignment involves the subconscious depths of our souls and is made one piece at a time by the focus of our consciousness. Consciousness stands like a two dimensional screen between two worlds: the multitudes of thoughts and feelings within the soul, and the world around us. Upon it are displayed only several details at a time from where we are in each world. And from it is produced only several responses at a time. Everything about these functions requires the passage of time. When time is patiently allowed, humility can match the details of the outer world with a display of appropriate details from the inner one to generate better responses. So by the patient alignment of the inner world with the outer one, using self-control in faithfulness to His ideas, kindness and gentleness fits more details upon a peacefully receptive screen, which then responds with joyfulness and goodness. Through patience you experience and know more of yourself, the world, and God‘s Word to you, and you do more righteousness for display upon the screens of others.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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