There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven …
— Ecclesiastes 3:1
The entire life of a good Christian is an exercise in holy desire. You do not see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when God comes you may see and be utterly satisfied. Suppose you are going to fill some holder or container, and you know you will be given a large amount. Continue reading “Desert Day 05: Why God Makes Us Wait …”
Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.
— Maya Angelou
Prayer for Patience …
Lord, teach me to be patient – with life, with people,and with myself. I sometimes try to hurry things along too much, and I push for answers before the time is right. Teach me to trust Your sense of timing rather than my ownand to surrender my will to Your greater and wiser plan. Help me let life unfold slowly, like the small rosebud whose petals unravel bit by bit, and remind me that in hurrying the bloom along, I destroy the bud and much of the beauty therein.
Instead, let me wait for all to unfold in its own time. Each moment and state of growth contains a loveliness. Teach me to slow down enough to appreciate life and all it holds. Amen.
Prayer Source: Unknown
Originally Posted on: A Catholic Life
Quotes on Patience:
The greatest prayer is patience — Buddha
(see also Healing Anger: The Power Of Patience From A Buddhist Perspective)
Patience lives in the gap between our experience of an event and our response to that experience. If we spend time with our experience — the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that arise–we can gain insight. Wisdom arises as we see things with greater clarity. Forgiveness has space to develop; fires have a chance to cool.
— Allan Lokos from Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living
Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials.
Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.
— Comte de Buffon
Patience is the companion of wisdom. — St. Augustine
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
The entire life of a good Christian is an exercise in holy desire. You do not see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when God comes you may see and be utterly satisfied.
Suppose you are going to fill some holder or container, and you know you will be given a large amount. Then you set about stretching your sack or wineskin or whatever it is. Why? Because you know the quantity you will have to put in it, and your eyes tell you there is not enough room. By stretching it, therefore, you increase the capacity of the sack, and this is how God deals with us. Simply by making us wait God increases our desire, which in turn enlarges the capacity of our soul, making it able to receive what is to be given to us.
— St. Augustine from Love One Another, My Friends: St. Augustine’s Homilies on the First Letter of John and first posted by Jim Manney on Ignatian Spirituality.
Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.
— Henri J. M. Nouwen from Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to Your honour and glory.
— Attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
— Martin Luther King Jr.
I did not have to ask my heart what it wanted
Because of all the desires I have ever known,
Just one did I cling to
For it was the essence of
all desire:
To know beauty.
— St. John of the Cross
He made beautiful everything He created.
— Quran 32:7
Love is the beauty of the soul.
— St. Augustine of Hippo
Therefore once for all this short command is given to you:
“Love and do what you will.”
If you keep silent, keep silent by love:
if you speak, speak by love;
if you correct, correct by love;
if you pardon, pardon by love;
let love be rooted in you,
and from the root nothing but good can grow.
— St. Augustine of Hippo from “In Epistulam Ioannis ad Parthos”
