Patience is a Fruit That Grows

They say patience is a virtue
Slow and steady wins the race
The best things in life are worth waiting for
Rome wasn’t built in a day
A watched pot never boils
Good things come to those who wait
But what about those times when
Good things stay just out of reach
The water only ever simmers
Rome stops after the first few bricks
And slow and steady gives me blisters

Well, they say, then you need to
Keep your shirt on
Have a long fuse
Bite your tongue
Don’t ever lose
Your patience
Just
Take a deep breath and count to ten
So I breathe in and count, but then
What about those times when
The person trying my patience
Exercises perseverance
And if at first they don’t succeed they try, try, try again?
How long do I need to be patient then?

And how much patience will I need
To live this slow and steady life
Through difficult days
And sleepless nights
With a thorn in my flesh
Digging in tight
Or a leaky wallet
That’s always too light
Or work that’s a daily
Bare knuckle fight
Or the heavy dark cloud
That hovers right
There

How long, Lord?
What do you say?
And he says
I know
I know the unstoppable passing of time
The long, slow loom
Of impending doom
Frustration
Disappointment
Grief
I even know the pinch of thorns
I know

And he says
Come to me
Come to me
Lay your burdens at my tree
Rest your head on my knee
You don’t need to
Grudgingly fight through the now
Always striving forwards
Towards a time when
The pain stops
The money appears
The work changes
The cloud clears
All the while
Counting to ten
through gritted teeth
while your blood slowly comes to the boil

No, he says,
Put down your weapons
Stop trying to do my job
This isn’t your fight
Let me be God
My grace is sufficient
My grace is enough
You don’t need to be stronger
You need to trust me longer
Further, higher, deeper
My power is made perfect
When you are weaker

So come to me
Because patience is a fruit that grows
When you lay your burdens at my tree