Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Â Romans 12:12
Patient in affliction — I wonder if anyone else besides me has a problem with that.
Winter is almost over and yet I see trees with dead leaves still hanging on the branches. The leaves cling with tenacity, as if crying out “I will not let you go.”
So with patience during affliction. Having grown on the branch, it sometimes appears dead. Â Feelings of hopelessness, despair, anxiety try to overwhelm — yet patience still clings to the branch.
And the branch, as long as it is attached to the vine, will soon blossom with patience prevailing.
I must admit though, when patience feels and looks dead, the old adage “if it looks, talks and walks like a duck, it must be a duck” pops up in my head.
It is at these moments that I take my concentration away from the fruit (patience) and look to the vine (Christ). Then, and only then, am I able to “be patient in affliction.”
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
