God is.

Have you ever been talking to someone and they couldn’t seem to focus on you there eyes were drifting everywhere but on you. You could of said that “I really love pink elephants the way they swim in the ocean”, and they would never of noticed. Or maybe you have been the person who was not able to pay attention. You were doing your best to listen but a billion other things were running through your head. Maybe you even yawned while someone was explaining something to you. Well let’s look a little deeper at this… maybe we were not compassionate towards the other person’s thoughts and feelings or maybe we were not patient enough to stop and listen to someone else’s life.

Well as recently discovered, through a Nouwen essay Compassion, the Latin word “Pati” is the same word used in patience and compassion. The Latin word “pati’ means suffering or feeling or enduring. 

In my world patience is a topic that is rarely addressed and the only reference I have with patience is “Don’t pray for patience”. Like that is true wisdom or something. I am geared to be anticipating the future or to look back at the successes from the past in hopes that they will offer enough encouragement to make it to tomorrow. This is a sad place to live but I believe that to begin to understand “Pati” is the key.

The God of the Bible presents himself as the one who was and is and is to come. This is the description he gives to those who want to know His name. He just briefly says “I AM”. In a curtain manner I believe that this is God attempt to maintain superiority over man. For example God give Adam the opportunity to name the animals and He gave him dominion over them. But when asked what God’s name is, man cannot give Him a name or even say it. God gives him a description of his name. For example, what does your name mean? I’ll bet that you have wanted to know in the past. Mine means “healer”. But the meaning of God’s name is, I was……I am…… and I always will be. 

God always was and always will be. If you can just read over that and not think for a moment maybe your a little too wise to be reading this blog. So God chose to create things including man from the middle of infinity. And for some reason he has chose to live in linear time with us, yet he is there tomorrow and will be there the next day and I can’t understand it, but he already is. Now if you can just read over that and not think, maybe your not taking me seriously and maybe you should find someone else’s blog to read because that is deep. So this God who exist…. is the one who we have living inside of us (us being confessing, life submited Christians).  This is another way that the kingdom has come to earth.

We are able from his infinitiveness to gain a perspective, through prayer and connectedness, to live outside of anxiousness and eagerness and serve the world. We have been redeemed for good works that the Father has prepared for us (Ephesians). He gives us the life to live and the spirit to achieve all that is set before us. He is the God that is forever present and has given us authority as His sons and daughters. With all that being said, we do not live to the same drum beat as the world. We can rest in the peace that he has given us and serve with all attention and patience. 

So pray for patience… and spend quality time with the Lord. Get away from a clock and spend time reading and praying. Allow yourself to enter into to rest that God has. He is not punching a clock, accumulating interest, accrueing vacation time, or watching the stock market.

God is love. God is patient. God is.