Our focus for assemblies this week is the first attribute of love that Paul describes; patience.
It's interesting how easy it is not to be patient, in a world full of fast food, instant downloads and the ability to communicate across the world curtesy of modern technology. The concept of patience and the association with waiting that is almost integral to this aspect of love being put into practice, seems to be almost a forgotten virtue.
Yet there are times when we have to wait, but this doesn't mean that we are patient in the waiting. The traffic snarls to a halt and the horn is so easily reached for. The response when the Internet slows down and the web page seems to take forever to load. Waiting in a queue for the shops to open, at the supermarket or even to get into the school hall for lunch All of these frequently test our ability to wait and demonstrate just how patient we are.
Joyce Meyer sums this up wonderfully with her quote " Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while waiting." Maybe Paul deliberately put this at the front of his list of what love is, for it is something that we all seem to struggle with at times and yet if we exercise true patience and demonstrate this through the way we act towards ourselves and others whilst we wait: What a difference it might make!
