“Live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” —Colossians 1: 10-12
Apparently when I was a young man, I had patience. My parents came for a visit when I had been stationed in West Germany for about two years. After picking them up at the airport our first stop was in Paris.
After I had driven them through city traffic for a couple of days my mother commented, “You didn’t have a temper before.”
I’m not sure what had happened in those few years: Had the three years of responsibility as an Army lieutenant affected me?
Or was it the classified briefings we frequently received about the overwhelming strength of the Soviet armor stationed across the border from us?
Or was it the fact that I had turned my back on Christ eight or nine years earlier?
Over the years I have not been a patient man.
No matter how often I pray for patience, I fall back on bad habits. I have studied and researched over the decades since God reached out to me, as Paul had directed the Colossians: “Grow in the knowledge of God.” But I suppose the problem is that I need to “do” as well as study.
I pray that each of us may learn to practice God’s love. Share God’s love and grace with those around us and try to grow in Patience.
Bob Beck is the faith writer for The Chronicle.
