Patience

A frind sent me a devotional today by Max Lucado - about patience, and I love his definition of patience:

Patience keeps the flame low.

Max Lucado says that the greek word for patience is descriptive, meaning "taking a long time to boil." What a great description! Liquids come to a boil faster when we turn the flame up high under the pot.
I think about impatience or anger. When we turn the flame up high, we boil over quickly. we don't have patience. Patience helps us to prevent boiling over. It keeps our flame low.

A second point Max makes later is equally important. Patience and understanding go hand in hand. Whe we take the time to listen to others, or to observe and think about the situation, we are much less likely to be impatient or angry. Max lists several Bible verses that I believe I will add to my memory verse list: Proverbs 14:29, 11:12 and 17:27 AND 2 Peter 3:9. The verses in Proverbs talk about the connection between patience and understanding, and the verse from 2 Peter reminds us that God is patient with us.

If you want to learn more about patience, read the parable in Matthew 18 about the king and his debtors and read about the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22. God doesn't just expect us to learn patience on our own. He gives it to us as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

So, let's work together to keep our flames low!

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Proverbs 14:29
Whoever is patient has great understanding,
but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.

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44. groceries in the cupboard
45. fresh strawberries
46. a clean bathroom
47. being able to stay home on a snowy day, and having Craig and Carrie home too
48. cooking with Craig
49. having a washing machine and dryer - I don't have to scrub my clothes clean or hang out to dry unless I choose to do so