Patience
PATIENCE = quality of being willing to bear adversities, calm endurance of misfortune, suffering, etc; the quality of suffering or enduring; submission
QUESTION: Do you bear difficulties with patience?
Image: Heather Williams, H.W., M.
STORY: I drew this little drawing while I was sitting with mom in the Intensive Care room of the hospital. Mom had just had a heart attack and was laying in bed hooked up to so many machines that she couldn’t talk. I held her hand with my right hand. After an hour or so I decided to get my sketchbook and pencil and using my non-dominant hand, this drawing came out of me. A little girl stood in the water. A snail and a fish were swimming in the water with her. At first the girl's hands were just hanging down. Then a ball of butterflies came toward her and I drew her hands coming up to say STOP! NO! We’re not ready to die! Well, that was my thought and amazingly, mom recovered. I remember coming back to the hospital a few days later and she was sitting in a chair eating lunch. She just smiled and we chatted. A month later she was in her home. She lived another 7 years. Is there a difficulty in your life right now that you are willing to bear with patience?
QUOTES
“It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.” ~ Julius Caesar
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” ~ John Quincy Adams
“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.” ~ Hal Borland
“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.” ~ Helen Keller
EXERCISE
STOP.
Sit quietly. Assume an erect posture.
Sense the breath.
Sit calmly and mindfully recall a difficulty that you must deal with.
Be patient as you think of it.
Get your pen and paper and write words or draw lines expressing this difficulty - and your calm enduring response.
And move forward into your day aware of the power of your patience.