The Need of Patience by W. A. M.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 2, 1862

The Need of Patience.

By W. A. M.

As parents we have need of patience. The expectation of parents concerning their children, prompted and magnified by love, are not always realized. And not only so but sometimes much of life's bitterness arises from the disobedience and waywardness of children. All efforts to remedy the evil may fail, and the hope of reformation may be well-nigh extinct. Then discouragement or irritation is likely to ensue. Here, then, is a demand for patience. To repel might be unwise. Severity might discourage, and neglect would be criminal. The proper disposition under these circumstances is patience. Under the guidance of this virtue, wisdom, and authority, and love may be safely applied. And there is much reason for the exercise of this grace. Our own feelings and conduct in the discipline of our children are more or less imperfect. Impulsiveness and folly always, to some extent, attach themselves to childhood and youth; while time and Providence are our chief reliance after we, as parents, have done what we can. If our children become what we wish, patience will hallow our joy; and if they become what we do not wish, it will exclude from our memories the pain of unavailing regrets.

We have need of patience in our business intercourse. Nearly all persons are either employers or employed, and both of these capacities are subject to be affected by selfishness in some of its trying forms. Employers may be exacting or petulant, laborers may be inefficient or unscrupulous; and so great, at times, may be the trial, that the exercise of this virtue may be difficult; yet its claims are ever valid, its observance practicable, and its rewards certain.

This virtue has its claims upon us as citizens. All men, except a few outlaws, belong to some civil society. Human weaknesses exhibit themselves here also as well as elsewhere, only on a larger scale. All good persons value the privileges which political organization secures, and also desire and labor for the public good. This is sometimes hindered or destroyed by wicked hands. How painful to the good man to witness the surrender or perversion of great fundamental principles, the dominance of faction, the elevation, it may be to posts of honor and responsibility, of incompetent and unscrupulous men; to have vice stalk abroad unrebuked, or desperate men go unpunished. All this may vex the soul of the true patriot, and cause the giving way of his equanimity, his courage, or his charity. But this will not do. There is always another side to such things, and sooner or later, if vigilant and active, a remedy will come. It will avail nothing to lose temper, or to speak or act hastily. The best and safest way in the midst of public evils is to thoroughly do our own duty, and then calmly and patiently trust in God.

So, too, in every work of reform we have need of patience. We are to sow by the side of "all waters," in "morning" and the "evening." A small force applied with an interminable persistence and duration, who can tell the result?

Thou can'st not toil in vain; Cold, heat, and moist, and dry, Shall foster and mature the grain For garners in the sky. Montgomery.

We have need of patience toward God. How dark and unwelcome are many of his ways toward us: our painful allotment, our bereavements, our losses and privations. How prone are we to complain, to rebel, to despond. We "have need of patience."

His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. Cowper.

How many are the excellences of this virtue! It is reasonable, and all men are ethically bound to act rationally. It is the only road to success. What can irritation, discouragement, or faint and irregular effort ever accomplish? It is the process by which we can turn the ills of the present life to a beneficial account; a divine alchemy turning clay into gold. It makes us, in this respect, like God. He is the ever-patient God. He bears long with us. He sends his rain on the just and the unjust, and gives sun-light to the evil and the good. He bears with us from generation to generation. His patience never fails. Let us then in our sphere be like him: patient toward all men; patient in doing well; patient in tribulation. Nay, let us in such patience possess our souls that it shall evoke from the shadow of earth-born sorrow, the visions of eternal smiles.

W. A. M.—Christian Advocate and Journal.