“Patience is a difficult concept to understand in a world in overdrive. The world moves and changes at lightning speed. That cell phone you just bought will be obsolete within days. Got a tough question? Get the answer within seconds on Google. We shop, eat, and start and end relationships in double or triple time. Modern progress is generally defined by speed.
“Psychologists define patience as the ability to remain calm, with self-control and perseverance. In the Christian tradition, patience is a God-given spiritual fruit, involving the ability to wait and endure with the expectation that God’s power and goodness will prevail. Both Christianity and psychology suggest that patience must be developed. Patient listening is an act of being present with another person — of being fully involved mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in what they are experiencing in real time. Practicing patient listening is settling into a God moment: awareness of God’s presence in us so that we can be present for those in pain.”
