Donna Naborsyour Spiritual jewelry box.

 

Patience or Rest

Patience. I always say don’t pray for it. You can’t develop it and practice it until you need it. I don’t want to experience situations where I need patience, so I don’t pray for it. I’m sure that’s an oversimplification of what is actually a Fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

We develop fruit of the spirit by being in God’s Word and hanging out with Jesus. The fruit of the spirit, including patience, is a result of this relationship. It’s not something we can make ourselves do or be.

I consider myself a rather patient person (maybe I shouldn’t have put that in writing). I’ve learned to deal with traffic, though partly by taking less traveled roads. I can be very patient with my grandchildren, though maybe not with other people’s grandchildren. I deal with impatient co-workers and have learned calmness on my part helps the situation.

But sometimes I have a hard time when things don’t work out the way I want. And it’s usually small stuff. I’ve come to realize that most of these impatient times are due to lack of rest. What frazzles me late in the day is more easily handled in the morning after a good night’s sleep. My irritability is always at a higher level in the evening.

I’ve read several books and articles and even heard podcasts recently on taking a Sabbath of rest. Whether you take off a full day or a partial day, whether it’s a Saturday or Sunday or another day, or maybe it’s just stopping each evening before the small issues have a chance to cause overwhelm; we all need rest.

As I look forward to 2024, I want to intentionally plan time for rest. A time to refresh and spend quality time with God.

Let me know what times you set aside to rest. We can all learn from each other.

“And He said to them, ‘Come aside by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while’” (Mark 6:31).