Patience

Patience is very trying. Our time is very valuable, and we like to do things on our timetables rather than other people’s timetables. Patience means respect for a collective agenda over our own personal agenda.

Of course, we are more often than not out of the control of the timetable, and our patience is called upon.

Patience is a virtue, as it really is a test of character. It is also a demonstration of respect for process, and process is important as part of any deliberation involving two or more persons. A world without patience would certainly be a very dangerous place. Indeed, I would dare to say that a world without patience would not have made it this far!

So patience is another hugely important invisible force, and it may not be easy to practice, but we need to respect it for the good of our interpersonal relations and the good of humankind.

“Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is timing. It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.”

— Fulton J. Sheen

Discussion

When was your patience last tried?
What were the circumstances and how did you cope with things?
Play out what would have happened if patience did not exist in the world.