“Patience is a virtue.”
If I had a dollar for every time I heard my mom say that to me growing up, I’d probably have about $800. It would aggravate me and make me roll my eyes, but now I find myself saying the same thing every so often to my husband of two years. Growing up, I didn’t even think about what a “virtue” was. I just knew it was something good, and, according to my mom, patience was something I didn’t have enough of.
Britannica defines the word “virtue” as “conformity of life and conduct with the principles of morality. The virtues are thus the practical attitudes and habits adopted in obedience to those principles.” From a Biblical perspective, we are told that having patience is an aspect of love. “Love is patient,” says 1 Corinthians 13:4. God is the ultimate example of unending, sacrificial love. So, the more we are patient, the more we exemplify and reflect the spirit of God.
The day I took this picture, I had decided to go down to the beach by myself to watch the sunset. Never in my life have I ever regretted watching a sunset on a beach, and this particular day was no different. As I soaked in a few moments of what I like to call “golden hour” just after the sun went down, my prayers led me to the word “patience.” With all of the changes going on and the uncertainty of COVID, God was telling me to stay patient.
I decided to test myself a little. One thing I love to do in addition to watching the sun set is to put my toes in the water. I love enjoying God’s magnificent creation and soaking up the sounds, smells, and feelings. The waves were reaching up to a certain spot on the beach, and I decided I would stand exactly where I was and not move an inch. I wouldn’t leave that beach until another wave reached up the beach and touched my toes.
As wave after wave rolled in, I would get excited that it would reach me, but most weren’t even close. Looking out to a certain distance, I thought I could tell which wave would have enough stamina to reach my toes, but then I would be sadly mistaken. I thought I knew which one would get the job done, touch my feet, and have me headed back to my warm car and home.
As the seconds ticked by and turned into minutes, I began to panic a bit. There’s something you should know about me: When I set my mind to something, I become determined to follow through. Because of this, there was absolutely no way I was going to leave that spot until those darn waves rolled up to kiss my feet. So, all of the extreme thoughts started rolling in. What if I was stuck here all night? What if low tide just started, and now there’s no hope of these waves reaching me until the tide came back up? What if I looked like a fool to everyone around me, unmoving, starting out forlornly at the ocean? Why could I not just control the water and make it do what I wanted it to do?
“Patience,” I kept reminding myself.
Eventually, after what seemed like about an hour but was really only about four minutes, one of the waves slowly, majestically, rolled up the beach and touched my toes. I was able to let out a sigh of relief, give a brief smile, nod my head at the ocean, and start my walk back down the beach and to my car. Praise the Lord, I would not be stuck there all night, looking like a fool and screaming at the ocean to just do what I wanted it to do.
Walking away from that spot where I had dug my feet in, I began to think about how this random experiment translated to the rest of my life. How many times do I find myself waiting, seemingly stuck, and begging God to change my circumstances so I can move on with life and do what I want to do? How many times do I get excited about a new opportunity that seems promising on paper, only to find out it’s not for me and doesn’t reach even the bottom of what God wants me to do and accomplish? How many times do I judge what I am supposed to do by others’ reactions to me and opinions of me? And how many times do I finally get the nudge from God to move forward, breathe a sigh of relief, thank Him for finally listening to me, and move on—with inevitably another wave-touching, worrywart-creating moment coming soon on the horizon?
Even when we’re unsure what’s going on around us, God just wants us to stay patient. As hard as we try, we can’t control the waves. And that’s what has always been so scary to me about the ocean! I don’t know what it’s going to do or when it’s going to do it, so it terrifies me sometimes. But God doesn’t want us to have a spirit of fear! Rather, he wants us to be “patient in affliction” (Romans 12:12).
Wait.
Sit in God’s presence and let Him comfort you, provide for you, and stand up for you.
Don’t come up with your own rationale and your own idea of what needs to happen. In due time, He will reveal the next step forward. He always has, and He always will.
So, develop this Biblical virtue that will draw you closer and closer to God and His goodness. Each time we are faithfully patient with where God has us, He will show us the next steps to take. He will let the calming water hit our toes, an exciting blessing to move forward.