The other day it focused on Esther. Wow, what a woman. Her uncle, who essentially adopted her, brings her to the king's palace to be in a competition of sorts with other women to win the king's favor and become the queen. This was all because he got ticked at the woman who was supposed to become the queen. Wow.
Well, here's the thing about Esther. She's a Jew. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. This is a time when the Jews had to fear for their lives.
Well, as it turns out, Esther wins the favor of the king and is set to become the queen. She goes before the king to request that he put forth an order canceling out the previous order to kill the Jews, and it all ends up being okay. But, as awesome as that is, that's not what amazed me.
What got me was that Esther was summed up in the Bible study as "passionately patient". You see, as Esther 2:12 tells us, these potential queens had to go through a whole year of beauty treatments before even seeing the king. They coated themselves with beautiful smelling oils, perfumes, and make up for 12 whole months before they found out if the king was interested or not. Wow. That's dedication for a huge unknown!
I wonder how often Esther got frustrated or worried. I mean, she hid her identity for a whole year. Her uncle told her not to reveal that she was a Jew. And how lonely did she get during those 12 months away from her family? Did she ever want to give up? I'm sure she felt a whole range of emotions, but she persevered. And it all turned out awesome in the end.
"Passionately patient" is a powerful phrase that's been resounding in my head since then. As I end up behind a slow driver, I find myself repeating it in my head. As I'm gritting my teeth and getting impatient in a conversation, that tiny voice in my head whispers that phrase. When I am stressing about moving and all that the next few months hold, it surfaces in my mind once more.
I challenge you, friends, to not only work on being "passionately patient" in your own lives, but let's work together to help each other become more "passionately patient".
~"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." [-Ralph Waldo Emerson]~
3 comments:
Boy, if there's one area of my life where I've learned passionate patience, it's waiting for the slow cooker to finish...just kidding.
Yep. You guessed it: Motherhood.
I thank God daily for the training.
Oh, Lisa, you are such a beautiful example of passionate patience with how patient you are with your precious little girl. I hope that someday I can be even half as passionately patient as you are with Miss N!!
Beautiful posts recently - and this is a cherry on top. :) Thanks for the reminder & inspiration, friend. :) :)
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