October 2009

Patience has been the subject of this monthly letter more times over the past 30 years than any other topic. The reason for this is the important role patience plays in both awakening and guiding the expression of the virtues lying deep within us. We sow the seeds of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self control in the fertile fields of patience. Here is where the “fruits of the spirit” will take root, be nourished and grow. Here, from the fields of patience, is where grace will rise as a perfume from the ground. All good must grow in application, and such growth can only take place in patience.

Patience is a condition our ancestors called long-suffering. This terminology is not meant to describe the torment of pain but to express the persistence of love. It has been written “in patience possess ye your soul,” and in patience we possess all good things. Patience is never immodest, excessive, greedy, desperate, angry, envious or prideful. However, in patience, in the persistence of love, all blessings find nourishment.

There is a time for planning and a time for execution. There is a time for thought and a time for action. There is a time for laughter and a time for tears, but all things find their expression in patience. If we persist lovingly, joyfully, peacefully, kindly, in goodness, faith and gentleness we are living life to its fullness. It is important to note that being correct was left out because it is wholly subjective; it is not, nor has it ever been a spiritual value.

If there were one form of behavior that could express more of the fruits of the spirit than most others it would be forgiveness. First, forgiveness for self is appropriate and then for others. Forgiveness, not because it is logical or even earned, but forgiveness for its own virtue. The reward of forgiveness is forgiveness; it is an activity, and at the same simultaneously its own reward. Much of the illness plaguing humankind is the result of fear, and nothing banishes fear and loathing as quickly as forgiveness. However, forgiveness must be practiced frequently until it becomes habitual. We are not weak because we fear but we are made weak by our failure to forgive, forgive and forgive again. Our forgiveness must be embraced in patience so that it will find nourishment and growth.

May your day, each day, be filled with patience, first with yourselves and then with others. May forgiveness blossom like a rose, growing amongst the thorns in the fields of patience, and may you gather from these fields a bouquet of glory. May God bless you endlessly.