I’m serious. I want patience now.
Now!
Alright, I won’t get patience now, I get it. Before I discuss that, let me welcome you to 21 days of posts, 2021 edition. I did this last year in January as part of my annual fast. The experience was good, so I decided to do it again this year, with a couple of twists.
I covered a variety of topics last year, from faith discussions to my favorite bands. This year, I am limiting my main topics to these three – faith, writing, and music. Under these main topics, I will have seven subtopics each for a total of twenty-one topics, one for each of the twenty-one days. I’ll rotate through the topics, starting with faith, then writing, then music, then back to faith, and so on.
The big twist, if you want to call it that, is that I will end each of the twenty-one days, including the days covering writing and music by maneuvering the topic into some aspect of faith. My faith is the entire point of this process, this refraining from certain things for twenty-one days. As I heard today, if I don’t increase my time of connection with God, I will have completely wasted my time. I don’t want to waste time. So every post will contain some aspect of faith, even if I have to do mental and literary gymnastics to make it happen.
Now, back to patience. We are commanded to be patient repeatedly in the Bible. We are reminded that patience is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. We are told that love is patient. We are told that patience will be rewarded, whether here or in heaven. Patience is better than pride. We are reminded that God is patient with us, so we must be patient with others.
Proverbs 19:11 tells us that wisdom yields patience. I have to admit, I must not be very wise, as I have little patience. Yet James tells us in the fifth verse of his eponymous New Testament book-
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (NIV)
So, is the trick asking for wisdom, as Solomon did? Maybe, but Solomon did have the advantage of being asked directly by the Lord (1 Kings 3). We also have the ability to speak directly to the Lord via the Holy Spirit, so maybe this does apply to us. If we believe as Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, that God is able to “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”, it follows we should be able to ask for wisdom, which we now understand leads to patience.
That’s easy to say and write, but not so easy to do. We ask things of God all the time probably, but I have to assume that asking for wisdom is a step farther than the daily ask. However, Hebrews 4:16 says we are to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence”. The verse continues “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”.
How bad do I need patience? In 2020, I needed patience badly. From February until well into the fall, I was on the shortest fuse imaginable. Everything bothered me, everything rubbed me raw, everything distracted, frustrated, and confounded me. The smallest slight, the most innocent comment by another, the most inconsequential infraction of traffic laws by drivers around me on the road would raise my hackles, activate my fight or flight instinct, with fight vehemently attempting to come out on top.
As restrictions loosened, as some inkling of normalcy crept back into my life, I got better, but then all of the issues ramped up again. Mask mandates and restrictions on gatherings and businesses closing down all tried to wear on me once again. I fought against the overwhelming riptide of resentment, impatience, and anger with admittedly mixed success.
So my prayer for this first day of the fast is as follows.
God, give me the wisdom to understand and discern, so that I can be patient with others, patient with myself, and patient with You, as You are with me. I understand that this may have to be my prayer every day for a while, so please keep me committed and consistent.
Patience. I want it now, and the only way to get it is to be patient and persevere.
As I add each day’s post over the next three weeks, I will link it here so you can jump right to it.
- Jan 10th – Give me patience…Now! – You are here…
- Jan 11th – My Current Writing Project
- Jan 12th – My Driving Music
- Jan 13th – Give Me Mercy or Else…
- Jan 14th – Worldbuilding is Hard!
- Jan 15th – My Calming Music
- Jan 16th – Give Me Peace and Help Me Pass It On
- Jan 17th – Character Development Is Hard
- Jan 18th –My Moody Music
- Jan 19th – Give Me Faith…and Some Proof!
- Jan 20th – Journaling Is Hard
- Jan 21st – My Favorite Music
- Jan 22nd – Give Me Perspective…
- Jan 23rd – What If I Never Finish Or Publish Anything?
- Jan 24th – The Effect of Music on the Likeability of a Show or Movie
- Jan 25th – Why Do We Fast Every Year?
- Jan 26th – Story Arcs Are Hard
- Jan 27th – Music Can Be Addictive? Yep
- Jan 28th – What Verses Would I Have Tattooed On My Body?
- Jan 29th – Why Am I Writing A Fantasy Novel?
- Jan 30th – How Does Worship Music Affect the Service?
Featured Image: Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash