An introduction...to Patience

Be joyful in hope, patient in trouble, and persistent in prayer
Romans 12:12

I've been inspired. Wait, I'm already getting ahead of myself and it's only the first sentence. Let me back up. I had my 32nd birthday nine days ago. Lucky for me I still feel like a big kid at heart. I received several gifts; from straight up money to a trip to the Ren Faire in Nashville. All in all it was a great day. Once I got home I hopped onto Amazon.com and searched for some books I'd been wanting to read, but not spend my own money on. There was one book I'd been waiting over two years to read. One of my wife Sarah's friends, Michaela, had invited us over to her house. I'd never really met any of these people before, so as they talked and giggled as girls sometimes do, I picked up a Christian magazine and looked at the cover. The name of the magazine escapes me now, but the picture on the cover was so interesting that it stuck. It was a young man who had a huge unruly beard, white robe, and a staff. He looked like a modern day Moses walking around the Upper West Side.

The man in the article, A. J. Jacobs, was on a journey. He wanted to live a year following the laws of the Bible as literally as possible. As quoted from his official website, "Not just the famous rules – the Ten Commandments and Love Thy Neighbor (though certainly those). But the hundreds of oft-ignored ones: don’t wear clothes of mixed fibers. Grow your beard. Stone adulterers." The article was amazing and I was so excited to read the book. I couldn't find it though. I didn't finish the article but I supposed he must still be in the process of his year, or at least writing about the year. So I waited.

Fast forward to January of this year as my in-laws, wife, and I were waiting to board our cruise ship in Mobile. A crazy storm had blown in and caused us to wait for something like a whole day to board. So instead of waiting with baited breath at the dock, we decided to head out for dinner and books. At the book store I saw the same image from the magazine. Truly I almost missed it. I'd been wandering around the Science/Fantasy Fiction section all night and had walked over to the Toys and Games section. There A.J. was, tucked away around a corner on a standee. I almost bought it then and there. However it was hardback and full price so I decided to wait. Not that I'm frugal, but you can just get such a good deal if you wait a few months.

Now finally, with birthday money in hand I put it in the electronic cart, clicked check out, and waited for the mail to run. So far the book is amazing. The guy is from a Jewish-in-ancestry-only family, and claims to be Agnostic. As he follows these rules he's heard but never thought about before he has trouble with commandments that state to not only love God, but believe in him too. He wonders how can he follow that rule without breaking the commandment about lying? His wife struggles with a lot more! Since she's just along for the ride, she has to deal with bushy beards and more obscure laws dealing with women and how men can (or more accurately, cannot) interact with them during their cycle! It's all very interesting and I'm only three chapters in.

So it would be pretty safe to assume that my inspiration came from this book, but if you guessed that, then you'd only be half right. The other half of the inspiration for this little experiment came from mowing the lawn. Yard work can be a deeply spiritual time for me. Even though the roar of the mower is loud, it's a white noise and so my mind can meander about. I don't listen to my iPod or the radio as lots of mowers do, so it's a good time to think, and not have that random song in my head. No one is out there helping me, so it's just me, the mower, and God. Today I was mowing the lawn and thinking about the book I'd been reading. Here's this secular guy, trying to follow the letter of the law of the Bible...No, not just the law, THE Law. Capital "L" makes a big difference. Anyway, I'm a Christian and this guy probably knows more about the Bible than I do! He's read several different translations, including several Jewish translations, read more commentaries than I've ever seen, and he doesn't even know if he believes in "God". It's sometimes hard for me to pick up my Bible regularly or get myself to church each week. I was humbled. I prayed while I was mowing, and decided I was going to start tonight with a daily dose of my Bible.

However, my inspiration doesn't end there...so I guess I should have said earlier that those were only thirds of my inspiration. I guess I could go back and edit that in, but it makes for a much funnier read if I leave it this way. And, admit it, you were surprised, because you thought you were only going to get two halves and you actually get three thirds! Anyway, back on topic. After mowing the yard I went to get the electric blower and the extension cord out. Now, if you don't know me, I've never been what you'd call the tidy type. Ok, mom and dad are going to be reading this, and if I don't say it they will. I'm messy. I've always been messy. I toss my clothes on the floor, I tend to leave stuff where it lies, and I just don't pick up my junk. I've gotten better about it as I've gotten older, but I still have to really push myself to clean up. So, the extension cord was all knotted, obviously. Even though dad gave it to me all neatly rolled up on a cord roller, the last time I got finished with it I just bunched it up and tossed it on the shelf.

As I spent six minutes untying the thing losing more and more patience every second, the thought occurred to me, messiness has nothing to do with being messy, it has to do with being lazy and impatient. A light bulb went off in my head. It was kind of stunning really. I always thought of myself as a very patient person, even if I was untidy.. You have to be if you want to be a teacher like I am. I actually pride myself on being a patient person. Here God was, and it was honestly so profound it was almost like He spoke out loud to me, "You are impatient." Of course my first instinct was to respond, "No I'm not," as I jerked the cord out from under the car tire instead of walking three feet and removing it gently. As if in answer the cord whipped out from under the tire and pelted me right on the shin like a whip from an over zealous lion tamer. Ok, maybe I was a little impatient. After I'd finished mowing the lawn I pulled the cord roller off the shelf and slowly, patiently, rolled up the cord. Inwardly I smiled and said I guess I know what topic I'm going to start reading on tonight.

So that's my inspiration, but not for what you think it is. It's true, I was inspired to start reading my Bible regularly, and I did start tonight. However, the inspiration came while I was finishing up my yard work. As I said earlier, I tend to get spiritual insight, knowledge, or just plain peace while I'm doing yard work. I thought, why not write down what you're learning. Then you can share it with other people. So this plan was hatched, I'll share it with all my friends, family members, or whoever wants to read it. It'll even serve to hold me accountable to reading my Bible daily. Now I can't post everyday, and heaven knows I might not have inspirational things to say every single time I write. I do plan however to let you get a sneak peek, into my yard, and whatever spiritual truths God plans to grow there each week.

Love in Christ,
Jonathan