“Amma!”
I heard Joseph, my three-year-old, call me before I got down on my knees to clean up after Anna, my one-year-old’s, projectile vomiting incident. Armed with kitchen towels in one hand and wet wipes in the other, I wearily attended to the task.
“Amma!”
It was the second time Anna had thrown up that day and I had barely managed to get the house smelling fresh before it happened again.
“Amm…aa!”
I tried to drown out Anna’s wails from the bathroom, where my husband was attempting to bathe her, and focused on scooping everything up with a paper towel.
“Amma! Amma!”
How am I going to get the puke out of the rug? It looks like it’s going to leave a stain. This is going to take a lot longer than I thought…
“Mummy!”
The one time I was satisfied with how much she ate and she threw up twice. What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? Could I have overfed her today? It doesn’t seem possible.
“Amma! Amma! Amma!”
I’d heard Joseph the very first time he called. I deliberately chose to ignore him because he is at a stage where he is very repetitive at what he says and chooses to ask endless questions at the most inopportune times. I justified my silence by telling myself that I just wanted to concentrate on getting the mess cleared up so we could all go to bed as soon as possible. I was getting increasingly frustrated as the stain was proving to be quite stubborn.
“AMMA! I’m calling you.”
I took a deep breath and looked at Joseph.
“Yes, Joseph?”
“That’s vomit Amma.”
“Yes, Joseph. It’s vomit.”
I scrubbed harder – putting my back into it in an attempt to get the rug to look presentable.
“Amma. Amma. Amma! Amma! AMMA!”
I threw down the rag in exasperation and threw up my arms.
“WHAT, JOSEPH?”
“That’s Anna’s vomit.”
For a second, I wasn’t quite sure how to react. Ashamed at my mini outburst by now, staring at Joseph, I sent up a desperate query to heaven. Lord, do you see this child? Am I bound to spend the rest of my life listening to the obvious being stated in such an unvaried fashion? On some days, I don’t find Joseph’s persistence as bothersome as I did then because I remind myself that will soon grow out of this phase. On other days, Joseph can prove to be a particularly useful tool in the hands of the Lord in teaching me patience.
As I finally scrubbed the stain into submission under Joseph’s wary eye and straightened up to examine my work, I was reminded of the patience of God. I was moved by His unfailing forbearance in spite of my repetitive requests and uncertainties. Although the patience of God is clear in theory, it became very real to me in the face of how I had just reacted to Joseph. Inspired to revisit familiar passages in the Bible, I discovered spectacular displays of His patience in every situation and was left amazed at the riches of His forbearance and grace.
We see His patience manifested in the Garden of Eden where God chose not to snuff out the human race at the first sign of disobedience.
We come across it in His dealing with the wickedness of the people in the days of Noah.
His patience shines through in His dealings with Pharoah. Despite enslaving the people of Isreal for four-hundred-and-thirty years and subjecting them to torture, God sends Moses on His behalf to simply request freedom. Even when Pharoah scorns the patience of God by hardening his heart every time there was a pause in judgment, God gives him ten opportunities to stand by his word.
We see it manifested in His dealings with the Israelites whom the prophets referred to as “a stiff-necked people” who “rebelled against Him and grieved His Holy Spirit” (Isaiah 63:10). Gideon, Samson, Ahab, and Jonah are just some of the names of men who were direct recipients of God’s patience in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, an incident that resonates deeply with me and bears testament to the endurance of God is the Lord’s manner of dealing with Peter, after he denies Him thrice on the eve of His crucifixion. Instead of condemnation and justice, the Lord responds with forgiveness and understanding. Commanded by Him, the angel who first informs the women of the resurrection of the Lord charges them to “go tell the disciples and Peter” the good news (Mark 16:7). Unsurprisingly, at the end of his second letter, Peter testifies to the patience of Christ: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance… Count the patience of our Lord as salvation.” (2 Peter 3:9,15)
Just as the Lord patiently endured with all those people, each one of us can testify to the patience of God in our own lives. Despite poor choices, repeated failures, and our unwillingness to overcome certain weaknesses we deem trivial, He is always available with exactly what we need to keep going. In His love and grace, He never turns a deaf ear to any prayer that rises from an earnest heart. He responds with compassion as He understands our struggle to wait and to endure. Accordingly, the Lord expects us to represent His patience in our relationship with others. Just as He graciously understands our struggles and needs in the midst of waiting, He wants us to work to understand that of others. When we are patient with others, we become an example of God’s good character – even when it’s letting someone in need to go ahead of us in line.
At times, I feel defeated because of my repeated failures and I hesitate to get back to Him wondering, what would He want to do with me anymore. However, it only makes the situation worse because He is the only source of hope for lasting change. The longer I stay away from Him, the worse my plight becomes. Unfailingly, He draws me to Himself and comforts me with the knowledge that He keeps no record of the number of failures but continues to help me live every day victoriously. Being a child of God, my desire is to be transformed into His image – and even though it takes more time than I like, I can rest assured that He “who called me is faithful, and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). I am reminded of a Sunday School song that was taught to me when I was a little girl:
He’s still working on me
To make me what I ought to be
It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars
The sun and the Earth and Jupiter and Mars
How loving and patient He must be
He’s still working on me.
What grace the virtue of His patience bestows upon us! I can hardly think of a more needed grace for everyone – especially for me. Finally, let us be careful not to “show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4) but instead let us “persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:36).
2 comments
It is so useful to develop my patience , so nice akka
Wonderful to hear, Hepsi. Praise God.
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