Monday, August 23, 2010
-the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain without complaint, loss of temper, or irritation.
-the ability or willingness to suppress annoyance when confronted with delay.
-quiet perseverance
biblical: the ability to stand firm in spite of dissapointment or hardship.
personal: the ability, when things dont go according to your plan or schedule, to trust that God's plan for the situation is better.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry. -Psalm 40:1
Have you ever seen a young dog out for a walk with its owner, the dog straining against the leash at every step? Never quite happy with the master's pace or choice of route, it nearly chokes itself lunging this way and that. But the master's pace never changes. For all its straining, the dog doesnt get where it's going any faster. It's just more exhausted when it gets there.
You dont see so many old dogs straining at the leash. They lope along enjoying the scenery, sniffing at the occational tree, barking at the occasional squirrel. They dont wear themselves out trying to lunge ahead. They've learned that they're better off going at their owner's pace, saving energy, enjoying the walk, taking it as it comes. They've learned to trust that their owner is going to get them where they need to be. Impatience grows from a mistaken belief that you should have control over things that you just cant control -the passage of time, for instance, or traffic jams or little sisters. Impatience is straining against the leash as if that might get you where you want to be faster; but you only wear yourself out and make yourself miserable trying to hurry things that cant be hurried.
It takes five to seven minutes to cook a frozen pizza. That's just the way it is. You can stare hungrily at the oven all you want. You can drum your fingers impatiently on the counter. But it wont make the pizza cook any faster. Of course, you could also pull the pizza out after a minute or two, but only if you arent bothered by a patch of ice in the middle of the pizza topped by unmelted strips of mozzarella. Good things -liked fully cooked pizza -come to those who wait.
Impatience is a good way to make yourself miserable. Refusing to accept things that you cannot change only wears you out. The real problem with impatience, however, is that it's a form of unbelief. The impatient heart says (though maybe not consciously) "If i were in charge of the universe, i think i'd run a tighter ship." A patient heart is a trusting heart. It accepts and rests in the fact that God is good and his plan is perfect, whether you understand the plan or not.
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint. -Isaiah 40:31
God is good to those who are able to wait for him, to trust in him. He gives them a quiet kind of strength that keeps them going long after the childish outburst of impatience have exhausted themselves. Wait patiently for the Lord . His timing is perfect.
Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. -Hebrews 10:36
Its one thing to say you believe that God's plan is perfect in a general sense. The key to patience, however, is to trust that God's plan is perfect in this particular situation - situation where you're tired of waiting, or confused about the way things are working out, or annoyed with the person ahead of you in the drive-through line.
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. -Galatians 6:9
This hard place in which you perhaps
find yourself is the very place in which
God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him,
to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness-in short, to learn the depth of
the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us.
- Elisabeth elliot
Final thought:
God, i know your timing is perfect. And yet it's hard to wait. Strengthen me. Help me to trust in your wisdom, your goodness today, in this situation. In every situation. Amen.
-Taken from a book, enjoy(:
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. -2 cor 9:8
God's grace is able to provide you sufficiency in all, and all in abundance. so awesome!
So............ have faith(: great week ahead.
-lisa
-the ability or willingness to suppress annoyance when confronted with delay.
-quiet perseverance
biblical: the ability to stand firm in spite of dissapointment or hardship.
personal: the ability, when things dont go according to your plan or schedule, to trust that God's plan for the situation is better.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry. -Psalm 40:1
Have you ever seen a young dog out for a walk with its owner, the dog straining against the leash at every step? Never quite happy with the master's pace or choice of route, it nearly chokes itself lunging this way and that. But the master's pace never changes. For all its straining, the dog doesnt get where it's going any faster. It's just more exhausted when it gets there.
You dont see so many old dogs straining at the leash. They lope along enjoying the scenery, sniffing at the occational tree, barking at the occasional squirrel. They dont wear themselves out trying to lunge ahead. They've learned that they're better off going at their owner's pace, saving energy, enjoying the walk, taking it as it comes. They've learned to trust that their owner is going to get them where they need to be. Impatience grows from a mistaken belief that you should have control over things that you just cant control -the passage of time, for instance, or traffic jams or little sisters. Impatience is straining against the leash as if that might get you where you want to be faster; but you only wear yourself out and make yourself miserable trying to hurry things that cant be hurried.
It takes five to seven minutes to cook a frozen pizza. That's just the way it is. You can stare hungrily at the oven all you want. You can drum your fingers impatiently on the counter. But it wont make the pizza cook any faster. Of course, you could also pull the pizza out after a minute or two, but only if you arent bothered by a patch of ice in the middle of the pizza topped by unmelted strips of mozzarella. Good things -liked fully cooked pizza -come to those who wait.
Impatience is a good way to make yourself miserable. Refusing to accept things that you cannot change only wears you out. The real problem with impatience, however, is that it's a form of unbelief. The impatient heart says (though maybe not consciously) "If i were in charge of the universe, i think i'd run a tighter ship." A patient heart is a trusting heart. It accepts and rests in the fact that God is good and his plan is perfect, whether you understand the plan or not.
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint. -Isaiah 40:31
God is good to those who are able to wait for him, to trust in him. He gives them a quiet kind of strength that keeps them going long after the childish outburst of impatience have exhausted themselves. Wait patiently for the Lord . His timing is perfect.
Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. -Hebrews 10:36
Its one thing to say you believe that God's plan is perfect in a general sense. The key to patience, however, is to trust that God's plan is perfect in this particular situation - situation where you're tired of waiting, or confused about the way things are working out, or annoyed with the person ahead of you in the drive-through line.
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. -Galatians 6:9
This hard place in which you perhaps
find yourself is the very place in which
God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him,
to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness-in short, to learn the depth of
the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us.
- Elisabeth elliot
Final thought:
God, i know your timing is perfect. And yet it's hard to wait. Strengthen me. Help me to trust in your wisdom, your goodness today, in this situation. In every situation. Amen.
-Taken from a book, enjoy(:
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. -2 cor 9:8
God's grace is able to provide you sufficiency in all, and all in abundance. so awesome!
So............ have faith(: great week ahead.
-lisa
what we could have been, 4:50 AM.
