INSPIRING WISDOM

ON PATIENCE

Patience is highly important and extremely essential in order not to fall under the burden of the difficult, but on the contrary, wait hopefully until the storms shall have blown over, the threatening clouds dispersed, and the sun shines forth and brings joy and refreshment. Patience is the virtue that enables man to endure with a quiet mind the unpleasantness and disfavors of life with serenity and hope. There are always stumbling blocks in any undertaking, there are always difficulties which one never even imagined. And if one takes these difficulties too seriously they will overcome him and make him miserable. True patience means that a person has confidence in G-d's goodness. G-d has given man the understanding and the powers with which to succeed in life, and if the individual knows how to utilize his gifts, particularly if he understands when to work and when to create and when to be patient, he may be sure that success will come.

One must have a great deal of patience with other persons. Very frequently people do things that are not in accord with our views and understandings, but as long as they do no evil we must be patient with what they do. He who is impatient creates hatred and produces conflict between persons. We are social beings; we live with other human beings... We must therefore strive to make the bridge between their souls and ours strong and firm, the path between their hearts and ours smooth and free from obstacles. By being patient with people, we not only do them a kindness, but we ourselves reap a high reward. For others treat us as we treat them... People learn much more form those who teach calmly than those who teach impatiently.

Not also must one be patient with strangers, but also with his own. A home may suddenly become a place of turmoil and distress, if the two people who have chosen to be each other's life companions, and look to spending together a life of love and harmony, become impatient with each other. One who is always impatient in his home drives away the closeness, the love, and the friendliness that must in fact prevail there.

We must distinguish, however, between patience and stoicism. Patience is not indifference. We are not at all indifferent to the joys of life, nor do we ignore its difficulties. One who is indifferent suffers no disappointments, but he also experiences no hope; he is resigned to everything that life may offer. One who possesses patience is not resigned; on the contrary, he is filled with hope, he hopes for the best, for he knows that the best will come. Nothing can be achieved, nothing can be gained, nothing can be accomplished without patience. Together with the stores of energy you expend, together with the many precautions you may take against failure, together with the struggle you may put forth against hostile currents, fortify yourself with patience. Patience is essential for happiness, whether our quest is success, or achievement, or health or the making of a home. And patience can be attained through faith and hope.

With patience as an armor, he will not lose courage, he will not lose ambition, he will not lose optimism, he will not lose hope but he will wait serenely for the best to come, and the best will come.