Who Have Not Patience…

Times of personal trouble are times of self-searching and often bring out the inner qualities of character. Those who attend sick or sorrowing or deeply disappointed people, often see the qualities of patience, of appreciation⎯or lack of them. “How poor are they who have not patience!” said Shakespeare. “What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” There is a great sermon in this sentence: What wound did ever heal by degrees?⎯physical wounds, sorrows, or hurts of the heart. Involved in all of this is attitude. “Be patient,” again said Shakespeare, “for the world is broad and wide.” This recalls the words of a wonderful scholar, who, when things went very wrong was wont to say: I have lived long; I have seen the pendulum swing far one way, and swing far the other way; and always come back to center. With time and patience, injustices and disappointments tend to come back to where they ought to be. But “Patience does not mean indifference,” as Gail Hamilton observed: “We may work and trust and wait, but we ought not to be idle or careless while waiting.” We should do what we can. Along with hope and patience there must be work. “Be patient in little things,” said William Plumer. “Learn to bear the everyday trials and annoyances of life quietly and calmly, and then, when unforeseen trouble or calamity comes, your strength will not forsake you.” The most welcome people of the world,” said James Francis Cooke, “are never those who continually look back upon the trials, the sorrows, the failures, the bitter frustrations of yesterday, but those who cast their eyes forward with faith, hope, . . . courage, happy curiosity . . .” What better can we do than do what we can? “How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?”