Tag: patience

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Minute Meditation – Patience and Trust

We might think of patience as trust through time. And our perception of time changes as we grow older. Remember what this time of year felt like when you were a child? It seemed as though Christmas would never get here. Children live so much in the present moment that it’s hard to get them to understand the passage of time and the need to wait. As we get older, though, it seems as though time moves faster and faster. We look back on our teenage and young adult years and wonder when we found time to hang out with our friends, to play games (card, board, video—the medium changes but the pastime doesn’t). We might think it’s our work and family responsibilities, and that’s part of it, but even people who have retired say that they find it hard to find time for all that they want to do.

Only at the very end of our lives do we again find time hanging heavy around us. If infirmity and illness keep us from doing the things we love, the days may feel endless and the nights even more so. Instead of having to slow down, we need to remind ourselves that we’re in the perfect time and place for long and leisurely conversations with God.

— from the book Simple Gifts: Daily Reflections for Advent
by Diane M. Houdek

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Minute Meditation – What’s Your Hurry?

Patience can be in short supply at this time of year, when everyone is too busy. Technology has speeded up our lives to the point that we notice when our internet connection is sluggish or the person in front of us in the grocery checkout has too many coupons. We don’t even know why we’re in such a hurry. We’ve begun to value speed for its own sake. And yet the things that really matter in life still take time and patience. We can’t speed up the growth of plants or animals or babies. We can’t speed up the time time it takes for healing, whether it’s our bodies or our spirits. And all these things are well worth the wait. Instead of hurrying, we need to find ways to nurture ourselves and one another during the waiting time. The refrain of Advent is “The Lord is near.” Sometimes it’s hard to believe this. We don’t get the answers we want when we pray, or at least we don’t get them immediately. This season can help us wrestle with the waiting time. While we wait for the perfection of the world in the second coming of Christ, we have the mystery of the Incarnation to guide us in making our world a little more ready. We can appreciate the small signs along the way to that perfect time and place. People of earlier generations were far more aware of the slow growth of nature. We can learn a valuable lesson in patience from observing the small signs of growth. Take a walk today and notice not the bare branches of the trees but the terminal buds that signal next spring’s leaves.

— from the book Simple Gifts: Daily Reflections for Advent  by Diane M. Houdek

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3 Virtues to Grow Closer to God

Can you guess what 3 virtues are needed to grow close to God?

In his book, “Introduction to the Devout Life”, St. Francis de Sales lists patience, humility, and meekness as the most essential virtues to live holy lives devoted to God.

What makes these so important?

Patience gives us the ability to endure trials and suffering, humility helps us see ourselves as we truly are in relation to the greatness of God, and meekness calms our tempers so that we may show God’s peace to others.

Cultivating these virtues is just the beginning.