Patience

November 1, 2021

It amazes me how shallow my Christianity can be. I once spoke to a pastor of a church of about 450 average attendance; he said, “We are a mile wide, and an inch deep.” Too often, that describes me.

My plan was to take my Ural out to the dealer in Ohio where I buy parts and supplies. I borrowed a trailer from our pastor, and hooked everything up. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get the brake lights or the left turn signal to work. I tried everything, and probably made it worse by cutting off the old connection and splicing wires together. I’m not particularly skilled at soldering, and trying to get everything connected while lying on my back and needing another pair of hands got the best of me. 

I have all kinds of patience with people who don’t do what they should, but mechanical things are supposed to work, and when they don’t, I get frustrated. I guess I should expand my doctrine of Original Sin to include inanimate objects. Anyway, after about four hours of frustration and ultimately failure, Linda called me for supper. She asked how it went, which wasn’t what I wanted to talk about at the time. I didn’t snap or say bad words, but I have to admit to a few minutes of sulking.

For many people around the world, having a mere recalcitrant wiring harness would have spelled a great day. They would love to trade places with me. I have friends dealing with cancer, families that are fractured by abuse, divorce, drugs, or alcohol, and others who literally don’t know where their next meal is coming from. A bad wiring harness? Not so bad. 

It’s often a matter of perspective. Most of the things that bother us aren’t nearly as monumental as it seems at the moment. If you put a quarter right in front of your eye, it can block out the sun that is thousands of times bigger than our entire earth. If I let small stuff like this come between me and my God, who is far bigger than my problem, I’m holding the problem too close. Stepping back for perspective isn’t just a good idea; it is essential if I am going to live faithfully. Letting a small problem obscure my vision for God is not only foolish; it is sinful.

So, tonight I’m stepping back. Pastor Joe has offered to help tomorrow afternoon, but maybe…just maybe…I’ll get it figured out before then. Either way, it’s not a big deal, and Jesus didn’t get caught off guard by this, any more than he has been off duty on the bigger things in life. It’s taken me a few years to learn this kind of patience. Early on, I had to search through the grass for wrenches thrown in frustration. Those days are thankfully gone, which assures me that though growth in grace has often been slow, it has also been steady. And I can always take the bike out to Ohio next week.