Skip to main content

Waiting with Patience


            The virtue of patience can only be experienced in the period of waiting.  How will you ever become patient if you are never given the opportunity to wait?
            Our Lord is the giver of holy patience.  Patience is not a gift that we beg God to give us.  Most of our prayers are about ending the period of waiting we are currently living.  Only the Giver of Life values the gift of patience, and He does not wait for us to ask to receive. 
            Advent is a season of exploring the virtue of patience.  It is a brief exercise in recognizing the holy goodness of the wait.  In Advent we are forced to wait four Sundays before we arrive at the joy of Christmas.  The gift of Advent is that when we allow our souls to sink deeply into the joy of waiting, Christmas becomes more fulfilling.  We don’t have to face the reality that a perfect Christmas morning is not created by all the frills, smells and presents that world insists will make us happy.  Rather the meaning of Christmas is the fulfillment of what our souls most need—a Savior—and the promise that He will return as surely as He came the first time, after the nation of Israel’s long wait.
            James 5:7 says:  Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.  Acceptance is the key to waiting with patience.  Just as a farmer waits on the seasons he knows will come before the valuable crop, so we wait through the seasons of Advent knowing that Jesus came the first time as a babe and will return as the Savior of the world.
            Advent has much to teach about holy patience.  We must be patient with ourselves.  It feels impossible to tend to our souls in the midst of the pressures piled up because of Christmas.  We are forced to learn patience with the increased crowds of people who flood into the roads and shopping centers in an effort to make Christmas what they are told it should be.  We are drawn to share the experience of Christmas with family members in intimate settings that often challenge our patience in accepting the differences between family members.
            Let’s plant the seeds of waiting at Advent together by tending to our souls through prayer and meditation.  I believe it will lead to a blessed, holy patience with yourself, others and God.  The lesson of holy patience can serve you throughout the new year.
Copyright © 2015.  Deborah R Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.

           

Tea Time for Your Soul Daily Devotions for Advent available now on Kindle Direct:

Product Details

Soul Transformation through Advent: Devotions for Advent through Epiphany

Nov 22, 2015
by Dr. Deborah Newman

Kindle Edition


Subscribers read for free.Learn more.

Auto-delivered wirelessly

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...

The Bliss of Knowing You are Loved by God

            There is bliss of knowing that you are loved by a real and intimate God.   I have felt that bliss. I don’t experience it all the time and sometimes it takes me a while to notice how much I miss it.   Often I come back to my senses when I read the spiritual writings of one who is explaining how great God is and I am reminded how good He is to me.               I suppose the saints stayed more connected to the bliss of God on a regular basis and missed it far less than me.   I wish I knew their secret; all I can tell you is that it is a cycle for me to find myself unaware of God for a time.   It is often a struggle to reconnect each day. What brought me to my senses recently was a huge blessing He sent my way.   This good thing literally came to me directly from the hand of God.   I didn’t even consider sharing the joy I was ...

Why Me?

              When something tragic or unexpected happens, our first question seems to be, Why me?   It’s only human to feel this way and wonder why life has got to be so hard.   God has helped me look at my unwanted circumstances with a different question.   Rather than keep the focus on my pain and ask, Why me?   I focus on Him and wonder, How can You be glorified when everything is going wrong?             Adding one more word to that question makes a huge difference spiritually and opens my soul to find so much more than just my pain.   Another way to look at life’s tragedies is, Why not me ?   Sure, we each have our own amount of personal sorrows. These are the kind of sorrows that have no answers.      We can't explain away death, cancer, rape, bankruptcy and other heartaches.   It is easier to explain...