Patience comes as a form of discipline as we look toward Christmas. It builds up the muscles of hope.
Whatever is coming, it isn’t here just yet. Whatever we anticipate, imagine and envision, it is still a work in progress. Yet here we are: in this time and place. What can we do with it? How can we fully experience it?
Patience helps us become okay with finding simple, achievable measures for our time, energy and human connections. Maybe it means using postage stamps and handwriting notes, versus using texts and email. Crafting our own gift instead of buying one. Cooking from scratch versus buying a prepared meal. Walking instead of driving. Finding one next action, one next step, one next choice or word to move along.
This spiritual practice counteracts the expectation for instant gratification. Patience requires that we pace ourselves. Doing so, we lay the groundwork for the next steps in our connections with others and our accomplishment of goals.
While hope relies on willingness to pursue dreams by making plans, it also requires being present to what is happening at this time, in this place. Choose manageable steps, and work on objectives day by day. Tomorrow will be here soon enough, but the only day you’re sure to have is this one.
Savor this time, appreciate it, immerse yourself in it. Part of patience — a bridge builder for hope — begins with accepting where and when you are in this moment, and taking full advantage of all that it offers. — Rev Gail
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. — Isaiah 40:31
Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. — Jonas Salk
Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A ‘you can do it’ when things are tough. — Richard M. DeVos
A lot of people have their big dreams and get knocked down and don’t have things go their way. And you never give up hope, and you really just hold on to it. Hard work and perseverance. You just keep getting up and getting up, and then you get that breakthrough. — Robert Kraft