P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E

I felt the topic for institute last night was very appropriate.

Yes, I am frustrated with some things in my life, but when I have no control over how long it will take to be resolved or the outcome, I have no choice but to wait. Is that being patient?

We studied a talk from Pres Maxwell, and there were some great suggestions of what patience really is. I felt like I have learned several insights and lessons from recent trials, but have not been quite sure what else I need to learn. After reading the talk I feel like I need to devote my scripture study and some pondering to the topic of patience for the next little while. The answer is of course that I have A LOT more to learn!

I loved the following quotes about what patience is and is not:
- Patience is not indifference. Actually, it is caring very much, but being willing, nonetheless, to submit both to the Lord and to what the scriptures call the "process of time".
- There is also a dimension of patience which links it to a special reverence for life. Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe - rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance.
- A patient willingness to defer dividends is a hallmark of individual maturity.
- Instead of grumbling and murmuring, we should be consolidating and reflecting, which would not happen if life were an uninterrupted sequence of fantastic scenery, confrontive events, or exhilarating conversation. Patience helps us to use, rather than protest, these seeming flat periods of life, becoming filled with quiet wonder over the past and with anticipation for that which may lie ahead.
- Without patience, we will learn less in life. We will see less. We will feel less. We will hear less. Ironically, rush and more usually mean less. There is also in patience a greater opportunity for that discernment which sorts out the things that matter most from the things that matter least.
- The patient person assumes that what others have to say is worth listening to.
- It is patience, combined with love, which permits us "in process of time" to detoxify our disappointments.
- Patience is a vital virtue in relation to our faith, our free agency, our attitude toward life, our humility, and our suffering.

The godly virtue of patience is not 'just waiting', which is what the word is commonly equated to. Patience is developed only in combination with faith and other virtues. Humility and learning respect for others and the choices they make with their free agency are key. Patience is doing good while waiting and being willing to accept the challenges and trials that come our way. Mosiah 3:19 says "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Elder Maxwell said that "God's court is filled with those who have patiently overcome - whose company we do not yet deserve." James 1:3-4 also suggests that it is through patience we are perfected.

I have been quite resistant to additional hardship, but I desperately want to be worthy to return to my Father in Heaven, Todd, and others who have mastered real patience. I am grateful for the reminder of what patience really means, and I hope that I can do what I need to to develop that attribute in my life.