Patience - Donald Wall - Nov 2011

Audience:  Stake Conference Fall 2011

Topic:  Patience

A long time ago Karen and I lived in SLC.   I was a young father and we took a road trip across the country to Cleveland Ohio to visit some of Karen’s family.  We had all our stuff packed into our little yellow Buick Opel.  Our young son Bret got the back seat all to himself.  About half way there, somewhere in Nebraska on Interstate 80 we stopped for gas and a treat.  Bret was given a vanilla ice cream cone.  But his young hands didn’t do so well holding it and the top rolled off on to the floor of the car.  It made a nice little mess.   I was angry.  I scolded him and treated him with harshness.  He was 7 years old.  I am so sad for that day.  How much I wish I could go back, turn back the clock, and do it differently.  Perhaps we would laugh at the ice cream mess.  We would buy a new one.  And be on our way.   Where is your patience President Wall?  Where is your love?  

Today I have been assigned to speak for a few minutes concerning a core Christian virtue Patience.

From the Apostle Paul we learn that Charity, or the Pure Love of Christ, is without question the most important thing in the world.  We learn further that it is actually a composite principal made up of a number of individual elements.   The careful reader of the scripture both in the Bible and the Book of Mormon can perhaps identify 13 of these elements of Charity.  It is most interesting to find that at least 4 of these  13 elements are related to Patience.  (Mor 7:45).

I am sure you are familiar with them, these four elements include, charity suffers long, charity is not easy provoked, charity bears all things, and finally, charity endures all things.    Each of these individual elements, long suffering, good temper, bearing all things, and enduring all things are qualities associated with patience.   Quoting Elder Robert C. Oaks of the Seventy, “from these defining elements it is evident that without patience gracing our soul we would be seriously lacking with respect to a Christ like character.”

Therefore Patience is a big part of the most important thing in the world. 

There are many examples in the scriptures of patience.  The children of Israel waited 40 years in the wilderness before they could enter the promised land.  Jacob, the son of Isaac, waited 14 long years for Rachel.   The Jews waited 70 years in Babylon before they could return to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The Nephites waited for the signs of Christ’s birth, knowing that if the sign did not come, they would perish.  And our dear prophet Joseph Smith faced trial of endurance in the jail at Liberty sufficient to make him wonder and finally ask God “How long?”

The greatest scriptural examples of patience are found in the life of Jesus Christ. His long-suffering and endurance are best demonstrated on that excruciating night in Gethsemane as He uttered, in His atoning agony, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Mat 26:39). He truly suffered and bore and endured all things.  And again, while nailed to the cross on Calvary, Christ continued in His perfect example of patience as He uttered the singular words, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Today, however, rather than concentrating on the examples from the scriptures, I want to consider the intrinsic concept of patience a little more closely and try the scientific approach.

According to Elder Neil A. Maxwell, when we are unduly impatient, we are, in essence, suggesting that we know what is best for us better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than his. Either way, says Elder Maxwell, we are questioning the reality of God’s omniscience.   We are questioning his methods.   In Isaiah we read with reference to the Potter’s clay, shall the work say of him that made it, he made me not, or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it he had no understanding? (Isa 29:16)  Such a suggestion is of course preposterous.  The master of the clay is the Potter and not the Pot.  

We need to have a deep and abiding trust in the Lord, the master of the clay, that he knows best what he is doing to shape us and to mold us.   The scriptures teach clearly that the Lord seeth fit to try our patience and our faith (Mos 23:21)  Are we willing to let the master Potter do his work?  Are we willing to patiently let him try us and test us as he sees fit?

Certainly we would not choose to be an enemy to God.   Yet King Benjamin declares that the natural man is an enemy to God and will be unless he putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint.  King Benjamin then clustered the attributes of a saint and patience is a charter member of that cluster.  Such a patient saint, according to King Benjamin, is willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him. 

So we have a choice Brothers and Sisters.  Enemy or Saint?  Am I willing to submit patiently to what God has so carefully planned for me, a set of earthly experiences that could help to teach me the most important thing in the world?  Or do I prefer to question God’s wisdom and impatiently react to those circumstances around me?

We see the natural impatient man is all around us.  We see his clear tracks and markings in our wilderness today.  We see it manifest in news reports, road rage, child abuse, flared tempers, harsh words, spouse abuse, yelling, screaming, swearing.  

What is the cause of these natural man reactions?  I’ll tell you what it is.  It is people, just like me and you, not understanding, that this was only a test.

Slow moving customer lines, just a test? telephone solicitation calls, just another test? a child reluctant to respond to our instructions, a nonsensical driver, a big test! a lost job,  a simple mistake, a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, a flat tire, a lost game, a lost opportunity, a disappointment, a failed ice cream cone from a small child, yes just another test. 

Do any of these sound familiar?

Patience, therefore, from a scientific perspective, is a willingness, in a sense, to let God have his way.   In our own lives sometimes we are required to wait.  We need to step back and let God’s perfect purposes unfold on His timetable.  Stand still, in effect as Moses said, and see the salvation of the Lord.  View with a sense of wonder and awe the Master in his workshop.    Often we cannot see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed.  Often the most difficult times of our lives become essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character.  Do we have the patience to wait and see?

The recent counsel from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf is that “Sometimes that which we are doing is correct enough but simply needs to be persisted in—patiently—not for a minute or a moment but sometimes for years.  How many times have good individuals done the right thing for so long only to break, at the end, or wear away, under subsequent stress, canceling out much of the value of what they have already so painstakingly done?

Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings. It means reining in anger and holding back the unkind word.  Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith. It means being “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon us.  

Patience is a part of love, the Pure love of Christ.  Love suffereth long.  Love is patience.   This is the normal attitude of Love.  Love passive.   Love waiting to begin.  Love not in a hurry.   Love calm.  Love ready to do its work when the summons comes.   But in the mean time wearing the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.  Love suffers long.  Love beareth all things.  Love endureth all things.   For Love understands and therefore, waits. 

May God grant that we may learn greater patience.  May we remember that Patience is a large part of Charity, the most important thing in the world.  May we come to understand that tests of patience are an important and necessary part of Heavenly Father’s perfect plan for our progress and improvement.  We can recognize these tests of patience along the way for what they are if we look for them every day.   May we be latter day saints willing to submit patiently to all things that the Lord seeth fit in inflict upon us.   May we remember that patience is a choice that we make.   Enemy or Saint.  That when he comes we may be like him.  Such is my prayer today.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.