What I would like to talk about this evening is patience. Not patients as in someone in hospital, but patience of taking your time, being calm. I’m afraid that it is something that I’m guilty of, not having a lot of patience with things, mostly with other people. But during this lockdown, it’s something that I have learnt. I suppose that it’s because in our lives, we are normally rushing about trying to juggle everything and we end up getting a little bit frustrated and on edge. Then if someone is asking you about something, or wants you to do something we may get a little bit sharp with them. So now in the last couple of months or so, things have quieted down in my life and I’m sure in other people’s lives as well. I’ve had time to reflect, I’ve had time to catch up with jobs that I have been putting off for months and I’ve spent more time actually talking to people over video links. Everything is at a slower pace.
So I feel a lot more calm with things. What I have learnt through this and when I think back over things, because what we do, we do tend to look over things and see what we have learnt, what we’ve got to realise is that not everybody is the same. Everybody develops at their own pace, everyone does things at their own pace and maybe they don’t quite understand things. So, it’s just us being that little bit more understanding. We don’t know what goes on in other people’s lives. We don’t know what’s going on around them just as much as they don’t know what’s going on in my life or our lives.
For these reasons, sometimes we can get a little bit sharp and short with people. What we’ve got to do is accept people as they are, that we all develop and do things at our own rate. We’ve just got to remember that we need to help people as well. It’s like giving someone a little job and they’re not doing it quick enough or not doing it as you would do it. You’ve got to realise that people have their own thought process, their own way of doing. This is with all different things in life. So, have a bit of understanding, have a bit of patience and when you want to do something and it’s not happening as quick as you’d expect it, take your time, take time to breathe.
As I say, we’re so used to having a lot going on in our lives and now everything has slowed down and it has in some ways, I know not for everybody but for me personally, it’s made me feel better, a lot calmer, a lot happier and not so stressed as I’ve got everything sorted.
So have a little bit of understanding with people when you want them to do what you want them to do. If they’re not understanding what’s going on in the World, have a little bit of understanding, take a little bit of time but always remember, be patient, kind but firm where necessary.
What we give out in the world we give back. So it always comes back in one form or another, so just think, have a little bit of patience. There’s no need to get angry with things.
Step back, breathe and appreciate what’s around you and what other people can do to help you. We all have our short forms and that’s what we’ve got to remember. No one is perfect.
So I will leave those thoughts with you. Thank you very much.
- A Spiritual Address given by Pauline Wing as part of Divine Service on 7th June 2020.
- Catch up on the live service here.
