This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the April 2010 Conference.
I must have read this talk on patience by Elder Uchtdorf before, but it's been a long time, and I noticed all kinds of intriguing things. Like this:
Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace.
How does patience relate to understanding, happiness, action, and peace? I was trying to think of some ways. I suppose patience could "refine understanding" because sometimes it takes a long time and lots of reflection to understand something, and patience gives you that time. Or sometimes you have to not have a thing to understand either that you don’t need it, or that you do actually want it, and patience would allow you to come to those realizations.
Patience could "deepen happiness" because you might appreciate something more after waiting and hoping for it. Or because you learn to be happy even without it. It could "focuses action" because when you're patient, you have time to think deeply about what to do next, and—because you can’t just do everything all at once—maybe you learn to pick the most essential faith-filled actions and double down on those.
Patience could "offer hope for peace" because when we are denied something, we learn what we are capable of without having it. In waiting, we learn more sincere prayer or more fervent faith. And maybe because of that personal growth, we have a better chance of actually peacefully accepting what we don’t have or what we can’t do. Our increased trust in God lets us qualify for more of his blessings.
Another quote that interested me was this:
I learned that patience was far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience required actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results didn’t appear instantly or without effort.
I've long wondered how one is ever supposed to tell if "unanswered prayers" (for lack of a better word—I know God always answers them but sometimes the answer is unrecognizable to us) are unanswered because they are not God's will, or simply because the timing is not yet right. When is it "hanging onto my own will" to keep asking and waiting and waiting and asking—and when is it proper and patient diligence? I don't really know, but I guess there are some things we long for that we know are God's will—like for our children and loved ones to have a covenant relationship with God, to know Jesus Christ, and to feel God's love. I'm assuming those are the kind of hopes that can most benefit from the "active patience" Elder Uchtdorf is talking about, and that most require us to "not get discouraged when results don't appear instantly or without effort."
Other posts in this series:
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