Future Glory

     "What is patience?" asks Papa as we sit in the living room, gathered for prayers. A moment of stillness. A hand goes up, then another. "Yes, Daniel?"
     "Being content with, uh...wherever you are." He delineates a vague portrait of the word.

     "Hmmm. Content is a good word. Content with what, exactly?"

     Rebecca takes a shot, coloring the concept with her own experience. "It's [not] like when Mom's on the phone and I say, 'Hurry up, Mom!'"

     Smiles fill the room. "You're right," says Papa. "What else?"

     Jessie, just home from ballet class and lounging on the leather couch next to Ana, develops a deeper definition. Mom adds a thought.

     D.P. tries again. "Patience is conforming to God's clock."

     But apparently Papa is looking for a specific word.

     "Waiting," I venture. "Patience is being content to wait."

     He grins. I think I even see his teeth. "Good. Give an example."

     And so I do, and so do the others.

     We are selfish people here at the Hall house. We want things to be the way we like them to be. Now. None of us are omnipotent, and though we do influence the situations we find ourselves in, we cannot ultimately make the relentless brother or whining sister change. And so we wait. We wait for change. And as we wait we worry, because it doesn't make any sense to wait patiently, right?

     Hmmm. While waiting for a rock to sprout wings and fly away, a man worries, because he has never seen a wing-sprouting rock. (In fact, he knows that anyone off the street would assure him his wait is in vain.) But while waiting for change in the lives of Christ-followers, we don't worry, because we have reason to expect change.

     Future glory? Yep, that's what we're waiting for. That's what we expect. God will glorify, will purify His people. Our reason for patience is the promise of God.
     So be patient, fellow Christian. Laugh in the face of "Small Annoyance," and when "Great Suffering" comes to town, look him in the eyes and quietly declare that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)