In Patience There Is Safety
Last week we spoke of not wasting the time we have, of not idly dreaming about tomorrow at the expense of today.
Often, we are led by a desire to have now that for which we hope. We too often find ourselves overly anxious for the things in life we want, which seem, at the time, most important. Young couples often go deeply in debt trying to start their life together at the same standard of living as their parents. Too many of us find it easier to say “charge it” rather than curb our desires with patience.
The lack of patience – the lack of self-control – is perhaps the greatest reason why people go too deeply in debt. “How poor are they who have not patience,”1 wrote Shakespeare. There is nothing wrong with charge accounts and credit cards if one has the wisdom to use them wisely, the patience for clear thinking and controlled desires. And that holds true for all desires in life.
Those who are searching for a companion – especially the young – will find a great need for patience and self-control if they are to realize true happiness in life, if they are to remain virtuous and avoid the temptations of life. Sometimes this requires a great deal more effort than we suppose.
The lyrics of one of the songs the choir sings tell of a couple who for seven years had been going together and then were separated for seven more while he was “bound away ‘cross the wide Missouri.”2 Often today even seven days can seem too long a time, and patience becomes difficult. We fail to realize, as George Horne expressed it, that “Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, … restrains the hand, and tramples upon temptations.”3
When we have the patience to do what is right, and in the proper course of time, we usually find our efforts turn out for the better. “Patience,” says a Chinese proverb, “and the mulberry leaf becomes a silken gown.”
So again, the future is important, and we need to plan for it. But when our plans have been made, we need also to have the patience to make them come true. In the words of Josiah Holland, “There is no great achievement that is not the result of patient working and waiting.”4 “Patience – in patience there is safety.”5
1Shakespeare, Othello, act ii, sc. 3
2From the song Shenandoah. Lyrics by Tom Scott
3George Horne (1730-92), Eng. bishop
4Josiah G. Holland (1819-81), Am. auth.
5Laboulaye, Abdallah, Ch. 20
March 19, 1972
Broadcast Number 2,217