From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
We often think of patience as that quality of hanging in there until things change.
If things are beyond any of our ability to change a situation then this is true.
But more often than not patience produces its best work at the tail end of persistence, making it the most useful form of patience.
Patience implies waiting for things to improve on their own.
Persistence implies keeping your head down and continuing to work when things take longer than you expect.
Quitting is always the big temptation when our persistence level starts to drop.
Last month I was busy tackling the yearly task of filing income tax for all the members of my family.
Accounting was not my strong suit in school so I find this work very painstaking to do and I usually find a few mistakes that I have made along the way, necessitating the onerous job of repeating many of the steps.
This year was no different and with the usual array of new forms to fill out my willingness to persist was pressed to the limit.
I was reminded of the words of the apostle Paul in Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
I considered the value it would be to the members of my family if I persisted in filling out their tax form.
Each one was to receive a nice refund this year but the careful work of filling out the forms had to be done first.
Yes, I struggled with frustration but the fruit of patience, wrought by persistence, produced the reward.
Now, my next task is to see how I can procure a cut of my kids’ refunds!
That may take the most persistence and patience of all!
