Saint Patricia and Patience

Saint Patricia. That is my new name for my sister-in-law. Here’s the backstory.

Last winter, my brothers and their wives came to visit from Texas. Patricia brought her jewelry making supplies and taught Cindy and me how to make earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. At the end of the visit, Patricia gifted me with jewelry making tools and supplies.

However! What she forgot to give me was the most important thing necessary to perform the potentially beautiful craft – PATIENCE!

This morning, I was determined to repair two bracelets – one of Mom’s and one of mine.

There is a great divide between knowing what to do and actually being able to do it.

After snipping the end that wasn’t broken, I put Mom’s delicate bracelet on the bead tray. I carefully pulled the string, and the dainty beads fell neatly into the circle.

Then my elbow clunked into the side of the tray. Beads splattered over the table and spewed onto the floor. Everything was downhill from there. Including my patience.

Thankfully, my bracelet was only about 12 very chunky beads, so all was well on that one.

My fat fingers can sew till the cows come home. Working with those teeny beads however are a different story. Plus, how am I supposed to see something that small to thread the wire through?

Two bracelet repairs didn’t really take a super long time, but I used every ounce of patience I had in that brief timeframe. Probably my allotted amount for the rest of the month!

After the successful repairs, I finally got everything stowed where it belonged and started thinking about my lack of patience. Though I didn’t use my plumbing language during the process, I did get a wee bit frazzled. I wondered how the Bible looks at virtues such as patience.

I couldn’t remember how many ‘virtues’ I am supposed to have. How am I supposed to have them if I don’t know even what they are?!?

I made the mistake of consulting virtue lists on the computer. Good grief! Some sites listed up to 100 of those suckers!

I’ll stick with the Bible version. After perusing several lists, I finally decided to check out the well known Fruit of the Spirit list. Dedicating myself to establish those 9 things as my life’s focus, I will certainly be on the right track. I fail pretty consistently on many of those virtues, but maybe learning some more verses about each one will increase the odds of my success. I’ll never be perfect, but I’m pretty sure God likes us to try our best to follow His guidelines. God always guarantees blessings when we obey His Word.

Colossians 3:12 talks about clothing ourselves with various godly attributes including patience. If I were an artist, how would I draw patience clothing? I kinda think the attire wouldn’t look too pretty. Since developing patience includes trials and tests, I’m pretty sure that wrestling around with those things – even persecution – gets a person down and dirty as she struggles to come out triumphant on the other side.

Just some thoughts for the day. May God grant us all patience to endure.

Blessings

KB