Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
It is said that patience is a virtue. But what in the world does that even mean?
Well … I looked it up online, because you know, everything you find online is true and accurate.
According to writingexplained.org, the phrase “patience is a virtue” means … “The ability to wait for something without frustration is a useful skill and a good aspect of one’s personality.”
My wife would say I’ve been a bit inpatient lately. You see, we redid our landscaping last year and planted a bunch of new stuff. Well … it just hasn’t filled in everywhere like I would have liked it to. So I bought some more plants.
Then I got a great coupon and I bought even more plants. And then I still have more plants coming this fall. I know Rome wasn’t built in a day, but for some odd reason I’m expecting my flower beds to be full in a day. Needless to say, with my impatience in having my flower beds fill up, my wife has cut me off from spending any more money on plants.
It’s easy to get impatient. It’s easy to want things done my way and to have them done to my expectations now. I’m sure we could all say the same thing in terms of the whole call process we are in the midst of. It has been a long 8 to 9 months and we do not know when a new Senior Pastor will be found.
With all of this … I can’t help but think of a familiar passage from Isaiah 55. The New Living Translation of Isaiah 55:8–9 says:
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
We may know what we want, we may know when we want it … but as we all know … you and I are not the one in charge. God, the Creator of all things, He has a plan. Even though we don’t know the details of His plan, we continue to trust in it.
We are not unique in this. When Eve gave birth to Cain, she thought he was the fulfillment of the promise in Genesis 3, she thought he was the Savior. Yeah … not so much huh?
Patience is a virtue. It is one of God’s ways of saying, “Trust me! I’ve got this! I’m going to take care of you. You have nothing to worry about.” It’s tough to accept because we all like to be in control. But no matter how much I want my landscaping to be full of flowers, it isn’t going to happen overnight or as fast as I want it to. No matter how much we may want a Senior Pastor to be here right now, God knows what is best. He not only knows what is best but He will provide when the time is right.
In the meantime, we patiently wait. We patiently wait but we don’t just sit around and do nothing in the meantime. We continue to use our gifts and talents to serve God and spread His love and fulfill the plan He has for us.
God’s blessings,
Pastor Mike
0 Comments