<p>Our daily lives are a clear testament to the relentless pace of modern impatience. We honk incessantly as-if we can solve traffic-jams. We want ten-minute home deliveries or we cancel. We want quick medical reports. We book a cab and cancel if delayed by a minute. We text or call someone and get enraged for non-response. We queue-up somewhere and if the attendant at the counter is slow, we spew angry phrases. If a flight is delayed, we curse the airline because we can’t change weather conditions. Elevators don’t open, we press the buttons repeatedly. </p>.<p>Could we call ourselves a ‘quick-fix’ generation? We in-effect, over-schedule our days, leaving little room for the unexpected. Our patience obviously runs-out. But what if God lost His patience with us? The Book of Psalms in The Bible says ‘none of us will survive. “Lord, if you should mark our guilt , who will survive...” (Psalm 130:3)</p>.<p>The Bible consistently refers to God’s Patience in terms of His Mercy. Pope Francis emphasizing God’s mercy, in his book titled The Name of God is Mercy writes “God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking His mercy.” The book speaks about God’s mercy and patience against ours.</p>.<p>Jesus relates of the patience of God in an interesting Parable of a barren fig tree (Luke 13:1-9) where “a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. He tells the vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down”.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Three years without fruit can get any farmer impatient. Three years without profit can get any businessman frustrated. Three years is synonymous with ‘length of time’.</p>.<p class="bodytext">John Milton’s line “They also serve who only stand and wait” from his sonnet ‘On His Blindness’ carries a profound spiritual meaning about the virtue of patience. It shows that even when we feel we are not able to actively participate, that there is still a way to serve through patience and trust.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Does your Patience match with God’s ?</p>
<p>Our daily lives are a clear testament to the relentless pace of modern impatience. We honk incessantly as-if we can solve traffic-jams. We want ten-minute home deliveries or we cancel. We want quick medical reports. We book a cab and cancel if delayed by a minute. We text or call someone and get enraged for non-response. We queue-up somewhere and if the attendant at the counter is slow, we spew angry phrases. If a flight is delayed, we curse the airline because we can’t change weather conditions. Elevators don’t open, we press the buttons repeatedly. </p>.<p>Could we call ourselves a ‘quick-fix’ generation? We in-effect, over-schedule our days, leaving little room for the unexpected. Our patience obviously runs-out. But what if God lost His patience with us? The Book of Psalms in The Bible says ‘none of us will survive. “Lord, if you should mark our guilt , who will survive...” (Psalm 130:3)</p>.<p>The Bible consistently refers to God’s Patience in terms of His Mercy. Pope Francis emphasizing God’s mercy, in his book titled The Name of God is Mercy writes “God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking His mercy.” The book speaks about God’s mercy and patience against ours.</p>.<p>Jesus relates of the patience of God in an interesting Parable of a barren fig tree (Luke 13:1-9) where “a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. He tells the vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down”.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Three years without fruit can get any farmer impatient. Three years without profit can get any businessman frustrated. Three years is synonymous with ‘length of time’.</p>.<p class="bodytext">John Milton’s line “They also serve who only stand and wait” from his sonnet ‘On His Blindness’ carries a profound spiritual meaning about the virtue of patience. It shows that even when we feel we are not able to actively participate, that there is still a way to serve through patience and trust.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Does your Patience match with God’s ?</p>
