Patience is, at its core, about waiting. Waiting is NOT something most of us are naturally good at, including me. C.S. Lewis once said, “I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless he sees that it is good for him to wait.”
I have often heard it said, and have found it true in my own life, that asking G-d for patience can sometimes feel like inviting the very trials and delays that teach us how to wait.
Other well known sages have experienced their lessons with patience as well, and some are worth mentioning:
"Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are." - Henri Nouwen
"Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." - Leo Tolstoy
"Patience is the companion of wisdom." - St. Augustine
When we think of someone in Scripture who wrestled with life at its most painful, especially on the subject of patience, Job immediately comes to mind. He lost nearly everything: his wealth, his health, his family, his livelihood, his status, and the support of those closest to him. Even his wife seemed ready to give up.
Yet Job continued to acknowledge and praise G-d. His remaining friends, rather than offering comfort, tried to convince him that his suffering must have been the result of his own sin. Friends like that are not truly friends at all.
All of us have gone through difficult times and experiences. My own list is long. So what? Our time on earth is short. What is seventy to eighty years really when we consider the possibility of an eternity after this? We are given this promise in Scripture:
"They who wait for 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
Waiting is hard. It demands discipline, faith, and trust. It requires us to release our need to control the outcome and to place the matter in G-d’s hands.
But the reward is great. The promise is strength, endurance, stamina, and the ability to keep going long after others may have thought it possible. To wait well, we must let go of our anxiety, our fears, our anger, and our expectations of how things should unfold.
The old saying captures it well: Let go and let G-d.
And finally, we remember the timeless adage: Patience is a virtue. And virtues endure.
