Patience...

... is a virtue.
Virtue is a grace.
Grace is a little girl
who wouldn't wash her face. 

That's the rhyme I always used to think of when someone said "patience!"...

I thought that patience was a good thing, you know. Helpful for waiting to go to the park or for waiting until you were old enough to sit in the passenger side of the car. Things like that.

Now I think of this when I think of patience:

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:10

I'm realizing that patience is actually a great deal more important than I thought it was...  It isn't just nice for earthly things like waiting for the results of a test--it is necessary to obtain the promises.


 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4

Let patience have its perfect work--that you may be perfect and complete!  Oy... did you realize that before? Did you ever stop to think that it was patience that works in us to make us perfect and complete?

Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. 2 Thess. 3:5

"Into the patience of Christ". Christ was patient. We are to be like Christ. < insert a 'duh' here >


 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11

Patience... isn't optional. It isn't just a handy thing to have. It is something we should be actively striving for.


It's... something God's been pounding into me, and-- by His grace--something I am growing in.