365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 191

I was in quick work mode yesterday as I had again to process the mail which ended up taking me all day long. By mid-afternoon, my shoulder was starting to ache from the repetitive motion. I leaned over my chair to pick up an envelope that had dropped to the floor and my long necklace caught on my chair arm and ripped apart. I blew like a volcano that was stewing for a long time. I managed to keep my tongue and just stormed off to the water cooler to get some cold water into me to cool me down. I had peacefully taken the task of doing the mail again even though my own work is now behind 4 days but the necklace was personal. I was angry and everyone knew it. But one of my co-workers thoughtfully came over to my desk and said she repairs jewelry because she has a lot of the tools from her musical days so she took a look at the necklace. It is going to need a sodering iron to fuse the piece together that broke apart which she doesn’t have. It humbled me that she reached out to help me. I know it is just a cheap necklace but I really liked it. I think the mail aspect is what I was really angry about because it put me so much more behind. But I am only one person and do the best I can so I need to leave it at that. Lord, may your peace be within me all this day and all the days to come.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 10

For the next week or so I am going to pick apart and study the famous wedding scripture 1 Corinthians 13:4-13. When I did my two read-the-bible-in-a-year stints on-line with other family members several years ago, one thing that I found that helped me understand the scripture I was reading sink in was to focus on a word that stood out. In that same thinking, I will focus on the little pieces throughout this scripture and really look at them in depth. The first word study will be on patience. It is always amazing to me to look up a definition of a word and get it put into other words that make you go ah-ha. Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset; the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune or pain, without complaint, loss of temper or irritation or the like. Some good synonyms for patience are long-suffering, resignation, forbearance. I think that being a parent has probably taught me the most when it comes to patience and I am pretty sure most all parents out there would agree. Parenting is a lot of sacrifice that I think we aren’t prepared for. I can remember when my daughter was learning to use the toilet. My expectations were really high because I thought her being a girl and from all that I heard girls just got through this easier. Well, that was far from what happened with my darling girl. It was a long-suffering battle of my expectations not being met and cleaning up after the mess. I can look back and see how my patience was worn so thin and there were times that like a volcano I didn’t totally blow but I let off some steam. My daughter is sensitivity and my yelling greatly affected her. I prayed for patience with her even though my mother-in-law always told me never to pray for patience because than you would really need it. But being patient with others is a piece that shows your love for them. If you are losing your temper, yelling at your kids or husband or complaining about how you can’t take it anymore, than it is time to pray, pray, pray. What you need is patience and the Holy Spirit has that to give you! Look to Jesus as the ultimate example of patience.

King Jesus, you are the perfector of patience. Help me to look to you and the Word of God when I am about to blow-up with anger. Remind me that being patient with one another shows my love. With You All Things Are Possible, Amen.

1 Timothy 1:16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.