The Patience of Christmas

As a teacher, I am daily confronted with the need for and the general lack of patience.

I do not limit this to my students, but they do demonstrate this problem quite vividly; they are young and they are growing...and growth can be difficult at the best of times, and all the more in a society that tell us constantly that we shouldn't be content with what we are. They wrestle with learning to persevere through the hard times, to strive when there are easier ways to accomplish the same "goal" of graduating from school and going off into the world...they struggle with learning to trust me and be patient, even when they don't understand why Mr. Leigh is so excited about Book 12 of the Iliad.

They are attempting to navigate the difficult waters of growing up without falling victim to the traps of a culture obsessed with being 18 years old. For them, the danger lies in growing up too fast. One of the aspects of my school that I appreciate is that the students are encouraged to preserve their innocence as they grow (hopefully) wiser.

It is my task, in part, to prepare them and to educate them regarding the need to prepare themselves before venturing out to the waiting world. To teach them the virtue of patience.

Patience is one of those virtues that can only be learned the hard way: through the practice of waiting.

I was reflecting on this the other day, and while reading the Doctor's thoughts on the importance of history, it occurred to me that the promise of Christmas is a lesson in the value of patience.

The season is predicated, in part, on waiting. It's why children have to learn to wait to open their presents until Christmas Day. It's why Advent comes before the joyous Christmas morning. It's why we waited through the years for the time to be ripe for the coming of the Christ. And it is, in part, why we wait now for Him to come again. Waiting allows us to learn to be patient.

Why is patience so important?

Through patience we learn to be content in God's timing. By patience, we access the peace of God in every circumstance. Patience allows us to endure the slow grind which so frequently typifies sanctification. Our God, the actualizer, chooses to allow us to wait for His perfect time, instead of pushing us forward by the sheer force of His awesome will.

Learning patience is a gift. It can be grueling, it may drive us to the ends of ourselves, but along the way we have the opportunity to see God's plan for us unfold.

Adam and Eve were the first to hear the promise. They died with only the hope that salvation would someday come from one of their own children.

Abraham endured time and again, only seeing his hope begin to be realized at the end of his long life.

Generations of Israel suffered in slavery, endured the wilderness, won and lost themselves a homeland...until, while under the brutal subjugation of Rome, Christmas dawned on them and the world.

Look for the dawn to follow the darkest moments of the night. Christmas comes in the midst of winter; life promised in the middle of the barren cold.