Count it all Joy- Part Two

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience." James 1:2-3

The last post focused on the first half of this passage...counting it all joy when we face difficult times. I'd like to talk now about the second half.

Patience. Patience is a scary word for a lot of mothers, especially when we have children in the younger age set, and especially so if you have four of them in that age set who all happen to be boys!

Teasing aside though, patience is a struggle for most of us, and it is a virtue we all strive to achieve. I read somewhere that the word "patience" is in the New Testament 34 times (KJV).

Websters dictionary defines patience as the capacity, habit, or fact of being patient. I had never much considered patience as being a habit. One definition of habit is as follows: an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary. A habit is something that is acquired. How many times have I heard someone say that they just weren't born with patience! I'm sure there are naturally patient people, but I am certainly not one of them! Patience is something that can be acquired. We can develop a habit of patience.

I am someone who likes a plan. When I set out to do something I want a plan for how to get it done. So, how do we develop a habit of patience?

One synonym for habit is practice. I am sure we have all heard the saying, "Practice makes perfect!". We must practice being patience.

So how is a habit formed? It is said that it takes three weeks for a new behavior to become a habit. In order to start a new habit, we must know what it is that we want. We want to form a habit of patience. We must then commit ourselves to forming this new habit. We need to strive to be consistent in practicing patience. It might even be helpful to ask a friend for accountability in this. Be prayerful. Pray for patience, pray for opportunities for patience...but be prepared to be tried!

"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."

Why does the trying of your faith worketh patience? I was doing something on this. As I mentioned in the last post, I have been going through quite a bit of trials lately. I think patience is almost a necessity in persevering in faith. Faith often times requires patience, because we don't always see what we feel like we need to see right away. Sometimes we pray for something, and the answer is "wait". Sometimes we have to choose to believe something, long before we ever have something tangible to see.

Child training is one of those areas that requires a great deal of patience. We teach, train, discipline...and often these efforts seem fruitless. It takes time, it requires patience. We wait. We wait more. We continue waiting. Sometimes it feels like all we do is wait for our efforts to bear fruit.

When we face trials, this can become even more difficult. Patience is not easy, and it's even less easy when things are hard. I don't know about you, but when my heart hurts, I don't have any interest in being patient. I want it to all be better and I want it to be better now.

But just like how our bodies grow stronger through the hard work of exercise, our patience grows when it is tested through trials. Trials can be excellent for building character, if we allow them to be. It seems that trials tend to either cause us to strengthen our character, or they can defeat us.

"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."

In Christ's Love,