Daily Devotion for September 19, 2006

Be Ye Nice

 

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3

 

I’m not patient by nature. Consequently, it is easy for me to get angry when things are not done on time (my timing of course). I have struggled with this my whole life. I sometimes think I wasn’t being understood when I asked someone to get something done. “What is WRONG with them?” I’d fume, “Can’t they see what I am trying to say?” I think that perhaps that is why I like writing. I can convey so much more. I don’t have to get mad, and if I do, I can choose not to send the correspondence until I have reread it and changed things here and there. I wish I could do that with the sentences before they leave my mouth. So many times with my children I wish I could hit the edit button, re-read it, re-think it, then hit SEND.

 

 The above scripture reminds me what the Holy Spirit tells me all the time, to be gentle and to be nice, and to be patient! I have to learn so much more patience. When my blood gets churning and something upsets me I tend to shoot off my mouth before I have aimed it. How much more gentle and understanding and patient has the Lord been with me?

 

 I can say that I have come a long way, but I yearn to be more of a nurturer. I long to be gentle in nature. I long to be more longsuffering and patient.  This will be my scripture for this week. Being completely (that means completely, not mostly) humble and gentle, patient and longsuffering, keeping the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Why not make it yours, too?

 

Prayer
Thank you for your whispers of calmness and peace. Help me to sow seeds of patience and grace in all my dealings today and forward. Amen.

 

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