Having Patience in the Field

Yesterday we heard from Mike Walsh on his post “Dear Christian” and I think while there are many points to argue, my message is not about arguing. As God’s servants we are called to facilitate the work of God in many different ways. Also as God’s servants we are all one in the same a Christian, each with a background from a multitude of beliefs.

What we are not is perfect. We are all sinners and perhaps maybe some have a bit more sin in them then others, but sin is sin. There are those we could even question as to whether or not they are real Christians based on their actions but we know that we are not to judge.

Having patience seems core in living with others, Christian and otherwise. I also am of the belief that the wrongs of one do not necessarily represent or take away from the good of others in a group. I would no sooner generalize all Christians as evil or hating as I would Muslims.

I’m concerned with the generalizations of missionaries. There are missions too numerous to name that have facilitated giving regardless of a person’s belief system, in the name of God, not to force God on anyone, but to do a true service for God. I would not consider the actions of Mother Theresa, Amy Carmichael, Dr. Albert Schweitzer just to name a few, anything perpetrated by an “evil group of humans.” These people are the very essence of patience, people who made great sacrifices in their lives so others could live a better life.

In using missionaries as an example, it is quite appropriate to note in our study of patience that we are all missionaries of one sort or another and yesterday’s post has one incredible point that Christians should consider. In the bible we are directed not to send any away from the fold. Our actions sometimes speak louder than our words, and to do more than what God has equipped each of us for can sometimes send another away from God.

As such we have to have patience and represent our Christianity through our actions and words. We should feel that we’ve touched others in a positive way. Mike said it simply:

If God is the truth, He will find me. Don’t sell Him to me.

I ain’t buying.

I can’t say it any plainer; God knows when each will come into the fold. We don’t need to sell Mike anything. We have to remember it’s free for all and if we live a good life and share the fruit of the Spirit and are patient in sharing God with others by how we live, act and speak, then all will see what a Christian life can be about. It is not always about TV evangelism or beating down doors. It is having an open door and an open heart to all you come in contact with.

Have you been giving the tough sell to your family, friends or co-workers about being a Christian? Have you lost patience with them or they with you over the discussion of religion?

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Next stop Patience…somehow I would hope if I have Love, Joy and Peace that certainly I would have patience. As a mom however, patience seems like the one thing I run the lowest on for most of my days. I set little bench markers of hope where I think if I make it to this point all will be well.

So basically when all the kids are four and older, there will be no more diapers and pull ups to manage and they will all be potty trained; when all the kids are six and older there will be no more daycare, preschool or half day kindergarten to worry about and all will be well. I don’t know that it takes a Christian to get through these things but most definitely I know the bible tells me all these great things about patience so surely, patience counts for something.

I know that the rules and the expectations change, what else will I have to manage with patience after age 6? Oh, please don’t tell me for I know worry will abound, especially with my oldest at eleven. I suppose worry is a bad word for Christians and after having three girls, worry soon becomes in low supply after one has broken some teeth on a skateboard, and another is always running this way and that into danger.

So maybe the waning of worry is actually a sign of better things to a stretched out mom. At some point maybe patience wins out, is it that point where others around us look at us as if we are crazy while we calmly hold a screaming boo-boo’d up child. Is it the point where we could just collapse if not for the fact that some little person needs us more?

Is that what it is to God? Are we boo-boo’d up and screaming and there is nothing less than he can give us than all of his love and patience?

Oh if I could have that for people every day of the week.

Do you have an ongoing struggle with patience? How do you overcome being short of patience?

Today I recount a personal joy and from what I’m learning about joy it is definitely an experience that relates having a faithful relationship with Jesus and knowing that we are not alone. We are given joy and can find it when we need it.

Fruit of the Spirit Joy Podcast
…and if you’d like to read along I’m reading Psalm 30 from the New King James Version of the bible.

Have you found joy in similar circumstances, as a profound gift from Jesus that is inexplicable? Is it always there and we just need to accept it as the gift from the Holy Spirit or is it something we have to seek?

To families and soldiers, to the past, present and future…

In reflection on Memorial Day, we should remember for more than just a day. While it was instituted for us to remember those who made a great sacrifice to this nation and its people we should note that it is much more than that.

From An Army Wife’s Life we read:

And this day is also about their families–who carry the weight of that sacrifice.

This day is about those who have passed, but it is also about our living veterans.

And these are the days. So, let’s move forward and remember the sacrifices that our soldiers and their families continue to make.

This weekend we will be celebrating and honoring our veterans and fallen heroes in church. We sing Christian songs and invite veterans in our community to stand up for recognition. We may even go to a local parade. Some other ideas to observe Memorial Day include the following:

- Visit cemeteries and place flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes.

- Visit memorials.

- Fly the U.S. Flag at half-staff until noon.

- Fly the ‘POW/MIA Flag’ as well.

- Participate in the “National Moment of Remembrance” at 3 p.m. to pause and think upon the true meaning of the day, and for Taps to be played.

- Renew a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, and orphans of our fallen dead, and to aid the disabled veterans.

“…gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime….let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation’s gratitude,–the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.” –General John Logan, General Order No. 11, 5 May 1868

For further reflection, here is a Memorial Day tribute called American Medley from GodTube.com.

For additional ideas visit Military Moms. She recounts a few of her Memorial Day holidays including:

We’ve also visited the Florence American Military Cemetery in Italy; my great-uncle is buried there, and we took flowers to leave on his grave for Memorial Day in 2004.

Have you made plans for Memorial Day related to honoring relatives or our current military? What ways do you think you support the military during this holiday set aside for our heroes?

Love, He said the greatest of these is love. In my reflection it does seem that without love it is hard to accomplish any of the fruit of the Spirit.

Love is crucial to carrying out the remainder of the fruit of the Spirit. Isn’t it easier to forgive someone when we love them? We find ourselves more patient with those we love, in particular our spouses, children and our elderly relatives. Take any other fruit of the Spirit and add love to it and see how it changes the expectations of your actions.

To me, love doubles joy and peace and when someone who loves me follows through on acts of kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in seems more genuine when done in with a loving heart.

While it is hard work we should strive to nurture the fruit of the Spirit. Utilizing this gift helps us to grow and deepens our relationship with God. The starting foundation is love, genuine and generous. Love cannot be ignored, when it is apparent, it cannot be denied.

So, after loving God and loving ourselves, we love our neighbors. Not the ones that we like alone, but even the difficult ones that challenge us. Maybe they’ve never known love, maybe our turning of the cheek would be the first act of kindness, goodness or gentleness they have ever known.

How would that make you feel to make a different that like in someone’s life? Like offering food to a homeless man, you could be offering love to a neglected heart. You could even be bringing someone to God’s house.

I know that when I’ve felt down sometimes, love has come from the most unexpected of places. And on a daily basis the love the unconditionally flows from my family and friends is an incredible gift to me, strengthening me to carry on even when times are difficult.

How do you expect to be treated by those who “love” you? Do you think the love you share with others projects a Christian life and enhances the gift the Holy Spirit has given you?

What have I learned about Pentecost and how will I incorporate it into my life? I’ve been reminded of the fruit of the Spirit. I need to reflect the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that is the Holy Spirit. I need to remember the warning in Galatians 5:23 to not grieve the Spirit.

I hope we can reflect together on all that is the Holy Spirit. With God’s guidance and reading scripture we should be able to gather all we need to bring the Spirit into our lives and be better stewards of God’s love.

That is probably the most important lesson here. God gave us the Holy Spirit. It is a divine gift and it is ours. We can keep it by recognizing and developing the fruit of the Spirit. How simple is that? Is it as easy as remembering a bible verse? Can we remember to nurture love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in our lives? Can we teach our children to do the same?

I hope so. I want and need all the goodness that is part of that promise so I will focus on Galatians 5:16-26 that calls us to live by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16-26

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

How will you incorporate the Holy Spirit into your life?

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV)

“Deep sky is, of all visual impressions, the nearest akin to a feeling.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notebooks – selected from The Hand of God.

Who has not looked up at the sky in wonder? Amazement at God’s creation of the heavens and earth touches us all. Even scientists who take a great deal of time to study the why’s and how’s of science pause in this wonder and amazement.

The Hand of God, Thoughts and Images Reflecting the Spirit of the Universe is a delightful book of the Hubble Space Telescope’s Deep Field pictures interspersed with thoughts and reflections on this aspect of God’s creation. It is edited by Michael Reagan with an Introductory Essay by Sharon Begley.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), built at a cost of about 1.5 billion dollars and launched into space in 1990, is currently the most powerful optical telscope in the world. Initially Hubble was near-sighted due to some optical calculation errors and corrections were made in 1993 to repair the Telescope and send back images that man has longed to see for years.

As an astronomy entusiast I had to check this book out. To see close-ups of stars and planets, images of God’s design, things I could only see as specks of light at limited magnitudes with the naked eye, is a pleasure. The telescopes hobbiests use don’t compare to the big HST in the sky.

This book is for everyone. Children especially will love this book, it is probably as cool as a trip to the zoo. However, it is hard to keep their awe contained. I checked this book out of our church library before a service. My oldest was quite intent on finding Jupiter before the children’s sermon that day. She’s trying to find out the reason Mom wanders around at night looking to the heavens.

This book reminds me of the awesome power of God and the gifts he bestows upon us. At Pentecost as we are reminded of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who cannot look to the heavens and be inspired by it all?

Whether you have a fancy for the night skies or not, when skies are cloudy and you need a sky fix, this book is a view of another garden of God’s creation.… CHECK IT OUT!

I remembered my mother’s copy of Poems of Childhood by Eugene Field. It was probably the most used in a set of classics that she kept. She would read them and then I would read them and I was so happy recently when she presented me with the copy of his verse.

A few years ago I was asked to present a Mother’s Day sermon for church and I of course spoke of my mom and life with my two sisters and sharing parenting with my mom as she now raises my two younger brothers.

During my sermon I of course included some verse by Eugene Field. Here are both of them: Good-Children Street and Pittypat and Tippytoe.

You can find (and download a pdf copy of) his poems at PoemHunter.com.

I hope the poetic works of Eugene Field bring you much enjoyment as a mother and child of God. Have a Happy Mother’s Day.

I will end this post with a podcast of the poem This Is Your Day by Louis Untermeyer.

The Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870 was intended to be the start of a celebration of mothers by Julia Ward Howe. Julia Ward Howe was an abolitionist poet who was accomplished in many arenas and while she may be known for writing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, her efforts to begin a Mother’s Day failed to catch on.

Christian Ann Reeves Jarvis took up the baton and in another effort worked on a program called “Mother’s Work Days,” which succeeded her and was passed on to her daughter, Anna. Anna honored her mother and three years later, on Sunday May 10, 1908, was the next attempt to start a tradition and this time it stuck after a church service was held for mothers.

Both these Christian women were part of different movements that supported men during the Civil War in one way or another in a selfless Christian act. The Mother’s Work Day Clubs founded by Ann Reeves Jarvis supported both Union and Confederate soldiers while Julia Ward Howe penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic to help further the cause of the Union soldiers fighting against slavery.

It is a beautiful tribute that Mother’s Day has continued on till this day. I will take a few days to honor the sacred history of this day that we don’t hear much about any more.