Recently I finished the first three books of the Eragon cycle, fantasy books written by Christopher Paolini. I love fantasy/science fiction because the well-done books are chock full of philosophy and it shows up on the lips of dragons or wizards or other mythical sorts of creatures. The unfamiliar landscape makes the words pop, and I put down the pages having found a new treasure of my own. Paolini writes well and has one of those creative, philosophical minds. One of the races who inhabit his imaginary world are elves. The elves are able to use magic to such an extent that they can create anything at will. At one point, Eragon, the main character, asks his master, Oromis, why the elves would bother to make anything themselves. The answer is that they choose to make the things that they love, things for which they enjoy the process.
I think patience is all about the process. When I first thought of the fruit of the Spirit being core attributes of God, I was momentarily stuck with the the fruit of patience. But then I remembered some musings I had had about old earth vs new earth theories a few years back. I couldn't get my head around why God would take billions of years to make a universe for mankind - weren't we the most important creation to God? Shouldn't we show up sooner? But then I thought, wow, maybe it took billions of years to set up the place we were to call home, and perhaps that's an indication of His love. Like my friend who spent painstaking hours carving a Christmas present for his girlfriend. Or when I take a day to prepare a feast for my family, rather than putting something in the microwave. The very time spent is a sign of care, and the joy in the preparation is part of the delight.
Patience is often difficult because we have an artificial timeline - we place on ourselves a restriction that may not be true. We think we have limits, when we don't...
There's more to say here, but not the time (!) to say it now, so I'll pause and take up part two next blog.
I think patience is all about the process. When I first thought of the fruit of the Spirit being core attributes of God, I was momentarily stuck with the the fruit of patience. But then I remembered some musings I had had about old earth vs new earth theories a few years back. I couldn't get my head around why God would take billions of years to make a universe for mankind - weren't we the most important creation to God? Shouldn't we show up sooner? But then I thought, wow, maybe it took billions of years to set up the place we were to call home, and perhaps that's an indication of His love. Like my friend who spent painstaking hours carving a Christmas present for his girlfriend. Or when I take a day to prepare a feast for my family, rather than putting something in the microwave. The very time spent is a sign of care, and the joy in the preparation is part of the delight.
Patience is often difficult because we have an artificial timeline - we place on ourselves a restriction that may not be true. We think we have limits, when we don't...
There's more to say here, but not the time (!) to say it now, so I'll pause and take up part two next blog.
