I was asked to contribute to a Lenten Devotional by Fig Tree Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). You can find all the devotions by clicking here.

Patience: Words are Important
Rev. Evan M. Dolive

Hotheads stir up conflict, but patient people calm down strife.
Proverbs 15:18 CEB

I can’t stand the cliché, “patience is a virtue.” It just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it is because there are times when I am not the most patient person in the world. I have been working on it, but there are sometimes when I fail miserably. I can be a loud mouth, a hot head and an overly opinionated person. On some levels I can’t help it or at least that’s what I tell myself; I find ways for the wrong doing to be someone else’s fault or I rationalize why whatever I said was in fact the truth and they needed to hear or that the hearer was just over reacting.

Words are important; the words we say and more importantly how we say them are of even more significance.
Patience is a skill that has to be crafted and often times re learned and that’s why its so hard. We actually have to work at it. Patience is not just something we remind ourselves to have when we on the verge of road rage but it is a key element in the Lenten journey.
In our society the concept of waiting or pausing or even inhaling is becoming a thing of the past. We want things and we want them fast. We want out internet to be blazing, we complain when it takes 10 seconds to download a song or a picture. Cell phone companies market their phones to show how a person can get things done faster or applications load faster than the competition.
Lent is not just a call to center our thoughts and minds on the life of Christ and the journey to the cross rather is one a deliberate patience. We want to get to the happy day of Easter but we don’t want to have to do the long way around to get there. There is something that we will miss if we do not take the time to journey with Christ in the Lenten season.
Take it from a fallible person who is continually working on patience, its not the easiest thing in the world, but I believe waiting for Easter will make that fateful day just that much more special.

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O God help me to be more patient in my daily life. Grant me the strength and wisdom to slow down and breathe you in. Calm my soul as I wait for your realm to come. In Christ’s holy name, Amen.