Peace and Patience

Last week I kicked off a preaching series on the fruit of the Spirit with considering love and joy. The next two on the list in Galatians 5:22-23 go hand in hand. They have eluded many people over the last year and a half, while some have found and used them well to get through this time.

Peace is so needed in a time fraught with finger pointing and shifting blame, anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, billionaires making cash off of space travel as our own planet and people suffer, and protesters anxious as Olympic Covid cases rise. Peace is needed in the midst of wildfires, political unrest, monsoons and flooding, clashes of First Nations and settlers. Peace is needed inside our minds and souls as we ask how much longer does the simplest thing have to be so complicated.

Without patience we couldn’t withstand the above. We would crumble and be in anguish, assuming if there was a God that the divine had turned away from us, forcing us to struggle on our own. But patience says that there is a bigger plan and that things will untangle and sort themselves out on a God-guided timeline. Patience says that what we hope for is not owed us in this moment. Patience says that in this waiting time there are gifts. Patience says that we are learning things that we will need as we pay attention and take in the realities around us.

Without patience we would not have the wisdom to navigate and create paths to peace. We would not have insight to understand our neighbour, the stranger not like us, our aging parents or young children. We would steamroll the needs of those we would rather not see rather than taking the time to consider their perspective and our collective humanity. Without patience we are more self-absorbed and entitled, concerned with our own success and dreams at the expense of others.

Peace is a state of being that offers us rest, perspective, and freedom from inner turmoil. It is also a choice. When we choose to be peacemakers we commit to considering the well-being of others as being as important as our own. We actively problem solve and listen and learn so that the lives of others are better, more secure, more just and calm, which in turn makes our own existence better. We need to be willing to seek peace and pursue it because it impacts our inner life, allowing us to focus and thrive.

Growing peace and patience takes commitment. It means recognizing that our actions impact others, and that our response to the actions of others matters. If someone is upset around me, peace isn’t restored in me until it is restored or encouraged in them. If someone is impatient, I tend to become impatient with them unless I choose to model patience in how I respond. My response just might diffuse the tension and return equilibrium.

There is much fruit to be grown if we are intentional about pursuing peace and patience. The possibilities for positive change within us and others is endless. May we choose to make the effort as often as we can. May peace and patience grow in you to the glory of God.

See you in a couple of weeks after my holiday!