How Strong is Your Paitience

How Strong is Your Patience?

Trust  and patience can be a hard thing in this day and age. Often I take my family on walks and my children get in such a hurry that they run and if I said nothing they would run into the road where they could be hit by traffic. They moan and groan when I yell at them to stop. They pout as they wait for me to reach them so that I can Shepard them across the road safely. Many in life react to God in the same manner. They moan and groan because they think God is just keeping them from having fun rather than trying to keep them safe. In America we now live in a culture that invites us to pursue what we want, whenever we want and we can often get it instantly. On the internet you can find nearly anything you want in less than 5 minutes, and that can be a dangerous thing. It allows us to act on impulses immediately without any time to decide if that is what we should be pursuing. God has a plan for us all but in our age of instant gratification it can be hard to wait on God. If God so loves us why does he make us wait? He makes us wait for often we receive more from him during our journey or our waiting than we do when we get where we want to go. In all my readings I find it so very few where God works quickly. He can, but often he takes his time and there is purpose in that. We need to have faith that he loves us and will take care of us. God sent his son to teach us his way. We come to know God through Jesus. Jesus not only came to be our savior if we accept him, but also he came to establish his Church. In his Church we can find sanctuary and partake in the sacraments to receive grace that helps us and protects us on our journey with God, but we must be patient.

Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16
1Now Sar'ai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar; 2and Sar'ai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my maid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sar'ai. 3So, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, Sar'ai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5And Sar'ai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!" 6But Abram said to Sar'ai, "Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sar'ai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. 7The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And he said, "Hagar, maid of Sar'ai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sar'ai." 9The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her." 10The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." 11And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ish'mael; because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. 12He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." 15And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ish'mael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ish'mael to Abram.

Psalms 106:1-5
1Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever! 2Who can utter the mighty doings of the LORD, or show forth all his praise? 3Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times! 4Remember me, O LORD, when thou showest favor to thy people; help me when thou deliverest them; 5that I may see the prosperity of thy chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thy heritage.

Matthew 7:21-29
21"Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' 24"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; 25and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; 27and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." 28And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.