Love is Patient
Practicing Patience with Others
Reflection By Scott Stoner
Love is patient; love is kind; … It does not insist on its own way.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Paul’s words about love in the First Letter to the Corinthians are some of the most inspiring and well-known in the Bible. From Paul we learn that love is much more than a feeling. It is, in fact, a decision, an act of our will. “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; is it not irritable or resentful; … It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
How might our patience with others be enhanced by viewing patience as a decision, not simply a feeling? One possibility is that we could decide to act with patience toward another person, even when we might not be feeling particularly so at the moment. For example, getting up at 3AM with a sick child or other loved one in our care for the third night in a row calls forth a decision to be patient and to show love, even when that is not what we might be feeling in the moment.
The decision to practice patience with others requires attention and discipline, and it is often challenging. Yet the rewards can be great, for our own emotional and spiritual growth, as well as for our relationship with the other person.
Making It Personal: Can you think of a time when you acted with patience even when you were not feeling particularly patient? What made that possible? What could help you decide to act more patiently toward someone in your life right now, even if that is not how you are currently feeling?
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