Effort, Patience, and God's Help

One time, this monk who’d left everything to follow Jesus in the desert got fed up with the other monks living with him. The constant interruptions and chatter were so irritating that he decided to go live in a cave by himself. (Who hasn't been there?) Maybe then, he thought, he wouldn’t be angry all the time.

But one day he filled his jug with water and put it on the ground. Suddenly it happened to fall over. He filled it again, and it fell again. This happened a third time. In a rage he snatched up the jug and smashed it. Coming to his senses, he knew that the demon of anger had mocked him, and he said, ‘Here I am by myself, and he has beaten me. I will return to the community. Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all God’s help.’ So he got up, and went back.

Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all God’s help.

Sometimes we look at our circumstances or the people around us and think ‘If this or that would just change, my life would be so much better.’ But, whatever else is going on, whoever else is in your life, the common denominator through it all is the person in the mirror. A struggle with anger, for instance, isn’t a them problem, it’s a me problem. And I can’t change external factors to solve an internal problem. Wherever I live, whomever I live with, I'll need effort, patience, and God’s help.

Effort because love, forgiveness, kindness, selflessness—the things that life demands every day—aren’t easy. Paul encourages the Thessalonians not to “grow weary in doing good,” (1 Thess 3:13) because he knows that life is hard work and can wear you down.

Patience because you will screw up and let yourself and others down, and other people will disappoint or hurt you, too. “Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Eph 4:2) That patience is just what Christianity looks like.

And God’s help because there will be days, months, even years, when you’ve hit your limit, and you are all out of patience or just don’t feel like making an effort. You can’t always sustain that kind of life yourself. Which is why the psalmist says, “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” (Ps 54:4)

If your circumstances or the people in your life are starting to bring out the worst in you or making you daydream about entering the witness protection program, maybe you need to honestly ask: could I be more patient than I have been with this person, or in this situation? Could I make more of an effort to bring some peace or resolution to all of this friction and turmoil?

Or, if you’re just exhausted or coming up short, maybe it’s time to say: Okay, Holy Spirit. I need your help here. I need you to sustain me.

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