Wonderings--September 14

I wonder how you handle a morning of stops and starts?

For the past two days three electricians have been working hard at the church. After a light fell from the ceiling about 2 months ago, we've been waiting for them to return and resolve a number of electrical issues that were discovered in the replacement process. 

No fire hazards were discovered. Instead the electricians found just a few small issues that could be handled by them. And like I said, they have diligently been replacing and rewiring the fellowship hall and church office for 2 days. 

But there is some collateral damage that has cropped up. . . Namely, wifi and battery issues as I try and work. Although I get a little frustrated when the lights go off in my office and my laptop stops charging regularly, truly this isn't a major issue to deal with this morning. All that is required is an ounce of patience and little flexibility. 

Sighing I think, 'well I can be flexible and I can practice patience,' but when so much of life and ministry is handled on-line, this can be easier said than done. I can forget to be patient because it is easier not to be. 

In the book Bird by Birds, Anne Lamott writes these words for us: 

“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.”

As a Christian I am confronted nearly every minute of every day with the choice to be patient or the choice to become frustrated, anxious, jaded, resentful, and angry. Every minute of nearly every day I have the choice of how I will respond to the person driving below the speed limit in front of me, or taking too much time with the doctor, or holding up the checkout line, or. . . replacing the electrical in the fellowship hall. 

While we might thing that this is not much of a choice at all, as a Christian it is an important distinction for us. For far too often I see people not practicing their faith in these moments because it is easier to let the emotion of the moment rule the encounter. 

But I wonder what might happen if we practice Lamott's 'revolutionary patience?' I wonder how your day and your faith walk could be different if you just showed up, did what God asked, and never tired of doing good? 

Blessings