HELLO!

“I waited patiently for the Lord…” Psalm 40 verse 1.

Do you wait patiently for God? Is patience a virtue of yours? My late mother once told me, “Your problem is if you don’t master something in five minutes, you have no patience for it and let it go.” She may have a point. And yet…my colleagues will often ask me, about all the pastoral visiting I do, “how do you have the patience, to listen to all those stories?” I guess we all have patience for something, and not for others. I would listen to a lecture, to a person’s story, for hours at a time. But a meeting that lasts for more than 90 minutes has me squirming in my seat.

I figured out all ago I love to hear about ideas, stories, beliefs, what motivates people and why. I am not that interested in the details, how many times you did things, when you did them, where you did them. I am keen to know why you care about this craft, technique, skill, what it means to you, and how it makes you feel connected to something bigger.

I have taken training in a long list of skills, from safety to recovery, all of which I know are important to learn, absorb. And yet, 30 minutes later, I forget. I feel so guilty about that. But…stories people told me, 35 years ago, as I was visiting them in their living rooms, I remember. Not all of them, and not the details, but the storyline, what they tried, when they were desperate for a change, what worked, what didn’t. How the outcomes were different than expected. What they learned from the experience of trial and error, how others helped them find their way.

The other part of the patience vs no patience are public lectures. I have no concern is a lecture is lengthy, I can listen without distraction, for over an hour, even longer. I don’t always agree with the opinions or conclusions, but I am keen to understand how the speaker arrived at the source of their inspiration, how they live out their purpose. BUT…when the “question and answer” time comes, I have my coat on, and I am out the door. Too often persons who stand to ask a question are really offering a speech. I have patience for the invited speaker, not so much for the one at the mic with a question. Even if I disagree with the invited speaker, and agree with the questioner, my patience is with the former.

Hopefully you have patience for my blogs and my sermons. Peace, Kevin