Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast;
it is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
LOVE IS PATIENT ...
Patience. It’s not a simple — or natural — trait.
The Urban Dictionary defines patience as ...
The quality of ... bearing with [and under the conditions of ...]
provocation,
annoyance,
misfortune ...
boredom [or]
bad entertainment
without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
(I love the thought that patience is bearing with bad entertainment!)
My son Jay had to learn patience as a Plebe (fourth class freshman) at the Naval Academy. Before these capable young men and women were built into leaders, the program was first designed to break them.
“Thomas, give me your rates!” was a phrase Jay would frequently have yelled at him.
For a full year, Jay — and all the plebes — were required to have memorized the full menu for the upcoming four meals. Each meal was a list of about seventeen to twenty-five items — including, choices of entrées, sides, and even the particular condiments available.
How boring! Like a bad movie — “bad entertainment” — it demanded great patience.
But their process was cruel genius. In the heat of battle, an officer can’t be confronted with a flood of information and say, “I’m not any good at information.” Therefore, they forced these future officers to constantly be memorizing trivial information ... that changed constantly (three times a days, in fact; every meal was a let down because it meant something new and inane to memorize).
If you can memorize that for a year, you can memorize anything!!
So can you.
But it takes patience and perseverance. And so does marriage.
It’s day by day. And it changes several times a day. In fact, it’s sometimes like something new happens after every meal. Life is often trivial. There’s annoyance, inconvenience, boredom, and bad entertainment.
Men, you’ll have to waiting outside hundred changing rooms. (Does this dress make me look fat?) Patience!
Women, you’re occasionally going to have to sit through six hours of the pre-game show for the sixth preseason game. Patience!
You’ll both here the same story a hundred times. You’ll keep having to wait for the same repetitious things. And you know what? That’s love. Patience is love.
It’s not easy. (And tomorrow, I’ll tell you how.) But patience is love.
So ... let me help you practice patience. I know you don’t like to memorize. I know you say that you “can’t” — though you really can. So here’s your chance to practice patience ...
Memorization: Over the course of these next several days, we’re trying to memorize today’s passage from 1 Corinthians 13. Today read it aloud twice, then take a minute to write it long hand. Then ... see how much you can remember.
Question: What keeps you from spelling love “p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e”?
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who could
memorize a menu ... but
couldn’t tell you what
he had for dinner last night
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