Practicing Patience With Ourselves
Theme for Week Two
Reflection By Scott Stoner
Growth is not our work to do alone, but work God delights to continually do with and within us.
- Jason LaVann
This week we will focus on practicing patience with ourselves. This is essential because the patience we practice with others (our focus for next week) often reflects the degree to which we are patient with ourselves. To paraphrase a core Christian teaching, we are to be patient with our neighbor, as we are patient with ourselves.
Today is St. Nicholas Day, a day especially loved by children around the world. Full of excitement, they place their little shoes out the night before, many impatiently I’m sure, and then awaken with delight to find their shoes filled with chocolate gold coins or other treats. The gold coins symbolize the generosity of the real St. Nicholas, who was known for being generous with those in need.
How might you, in the spirit of St. Nicholas, be more generous with yourself? Children spontaneously find joy and playfulness in the rituals associated with this day. Perhaps we might discover that there is a connection between being more patient with ourselves and allowing ourselves to be a little more spontaneous and playful, enjoying the very moment we are in, rather than looking to the future with impatience. In the spirit of St Nicholas, we invite you to give that at try today.
Making It Personal: Do you see a connection between the way you practice patience with yourself and how you extend patience to others? Do you see a connection between being patient with yourself and your capacity to be spontaneous, playful, in the moment, and going with the flow? What is your response to Jason Lavann’s belief that growth is not just our work, but also God’s work with and within us?
TO JOIN OUR PRIVATE FACEBOOK DISCUSSION GROUP FOR ADVENT, CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW:
Follow along with us this Advent season with our daily devotional and engage in discussion in our closed facebook group moderated by Robbin Brent, Carolyn Karl, Jan Kwiatowski, and Scott Stoner.
In this group, participants will have a chance to share their responses to the prompts in the daily readings, and also the chance to receive additional material for reflection.