Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "He that can have patience can have what he will."
Patience is an under-rated virtue, but it's at the core of all great achievements. Very rarely does a prize fall into our laps. It has to be worked for, sometimes over many years. The Olympic athlete whose leap looks so effortless has trained incessantly, punishing her body until it's capable of remarkable things. The pianist who puts such feeling into the notes he plays has practised for hours and hours every day, until mind and muscles have grown into perfect harmony.
And the parents who have a fine, happy relationship of equals with their children have put up with trantrums, moods, misunderstandings and hair-raising escapades without number.
Patience helps us achieve great things as we study, train and improve. It helps us endure trials, because we know God is with us. It helps us put up with other people, and it helps other people put up with us. It helps us to wait, and as the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen said: "A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us."
Here are 10 Bible verses about patience.
1. A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offence (Proverbs 19:11).
2. Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone (Proverbs 25:15)
3. The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride (Ecclesiastes 7:8).
4. Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4).
5. In purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love (2 Corinthians 6:6).
6. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12).
7. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16).
8. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Hebrews 6:12).
9. Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord (James 5:10).
10. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him (2 Peter 3:15).
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
