The funny thing about patience is…

I am realizing I don’t know anything about patience. I thought I at least knew what the word meant. But as I’m trying to be patient this week, and as I’m studying patience, and trying to understand God’s patience, the more I realize I don’t even know what it means. It’s a confusing subject. Does it mean waiting? Does it mean not getting angry? Does it mean not being frustrated about little things? Does it mean not overreacting? Or does it mean enduring? Long-suffering? Being content with things in life that won’t change for a long time? Is it ignoring the things that drive you crazy or accepting them with joy?  Does patience apply to a long-term event, like patience for things in life that aren’t settled yet, questions unanswered, or does it apply to daily frustrations, like not bursting out at my children?

Do you see my problem here?

Patience and endurance seem to go hand in hand in the bible. I have seen this phrase “patient endurance” or “patiently enduring” like a hundred times in the New Testament letters. I haven’t counted, but it’s a lot. The funny thing is, when we look at the 15 Love Attributes, “patience” is #1, and “endurance” or “perseverance” is #15. So there’s a chance we’re going to start and end with patience. Maybe it’s going to take us more than one week to understand this…(duh.)

What “Love is Patient” means

I have a list of 15 different verses in the bible that talk about patience, each one expressing patience from a different perspective. Then I had a thought.  This letter written to the Corinthians was not in English. The writer didn’t technically write, “love is patient”. So I decided to look up the original Greek word. Maybe that will help me figure out what God is trying to say here. The actual word in verse 4 (which Week One is based on) is Makrothumeo which is defined in the following way:

“to be of a long spirit, not to lose heart, to persevere patiently and bravely in enduring misfortunes and troubles, to be patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others,  to be mild and slow in avenging, to be longsuffering, slow to anger, slow to punish”

No wonder I can’t figure out what patience is. It means so many things. It means long-suffering. It means not getting angry quickly. It means not punishing people for the offenses they have caused against you. To let things go. It almost means to forgive! How did we get there? I thought we were talking about patience…

I think I’m starting to realize that patience isn’t just being nicer while you’re waiting, or being a little more tolerant of your kids, but it has to do with something much longer, much grander.  It’s looking at the bigger picture, and being content to wait on God.  I may feel very strongly a certain way today, but instead of throwing a fit, or demanding my way, or looking for comfort to replace my misery, I’m going to tell myself to be quiet, to wait, tomorrow I may not feel this way. God will come. He will take care of it. Wait for Him. I know it’s hard to wait for Him, especially when we don’t see Him. When I feel crazy angry or sad it’s hard to tell myself to get through until tomorrow. But I think that’s part of what patience is. Enduring through those times with gentleness, quietness, or patience, not with a searching for something to fill my need, or answer the question, or make it all turn out right. Just realizing the answer is not here yet, but it’s coming.

And then wait.