1/6/2008
Sunday School
Class Proverbs 26:22-28 gossip, hate, hidden
agenda's etc.
Scripture reading: #645
Announcements
Sunday evening Vesper's @
5 p.m. Evening Sing!
Wednesday @ 7
p.m. Our Wednesday evening class starts again with a new series on Personal
Leadership Roles and Responsibilities - and how it affects family dynamics.
Sermon
Ps 37.7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not
fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Pr 14.29 A patient man has
great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.
Pr 19.11 A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to
overlook an offense.
Ecc 7.8 The end of
a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.
Ro 12.12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in
prayer.
1 Co 13.4 Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
2 Co 6.6 (commend
yourself) in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and
in sincere love;
Col 3.12 Therefore,
as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Gal 5.22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…
Eph 4.2 Be
completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
I Thess 5.14 And we urge you,
brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be
patient with everyone.
Get the
picture…pick up on the theme in all those verses? “Patience…”
I am irritated “by the
baggage retrieval system at Heathrow…”
Okay, I 'borrowed' the phrase from a 'Monty Python'
song, "I'm so worried." That doesn't sound very 'holy' - and it
certainly isn't very holy to be getting irritated as easily as I do. That's
what irritates me.
Just this past weekend I observed (notice I
didn't say that I 'learned') a great lesson when the baggage retrieval
system of American Airlines failed to produce a very important piece of luggage
for Jenise when she deplaned at LaGuardia in
She was arriving in
Thirty plus hours later, that brand-new, first time
used, piece of luggage was delivered to her battered and broken.
I
was very irritated about the entire state of affairs with
our airline industry...
Jenise
was so grateful that her luggage had arrived and so
appreciative of our dear friend, Kelly, going where no mortal can go in trying
to get satisfaction from an airline. (Understand that Kelly doesn’t work for
nor control any airline. She runs an airport that is used, and sometimes
abused, by airlines and passengers. She has been subjected to the same
frustrations over her own luggage being lost.)
Why didn't I, the 'spiritual leader,' have the
attitude that Jenise had? I wasn't even the one 'offended' - yet I was
(offended, that is). Why was I offended?
I
had an expectation (horizon) that others were going to do their jobs efficiently,
timely and in a quality manner. I expected
that tagged baggage would be loaded on the ‘right’ airplane and then unloaded
upon arrival at its destination and placed upon some conveyance to get it to
its awaiting owner. Simplistic appraisal of what must be a very complex
situation, seeing how much luggage is lost each year.
I understand, from Jenise, that a package of Tyson
meat can be traced from a store all the way back to the farm on which the
animal was raised. The government can assure that kind of quality control over
a chicken, but can’t assure quality controls to get your luggage from here to
there on the same airplane in the same day! (If you are
wanting to take exception to this, please remember that this is my
irritation…each to their own.) J
Proverbs 14:29 "A patient man has great
understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly."
Where was my folly?
In investing myself emotionally where I had no input
in others’ job expectations or the company’s quality assurance…
Impatience has been stamped upon my visage for as
long as I can remember. It isn't a temperament I tried to develop - it's a lack
of understanding with which I continually grapple.
Years ago I heard it said about a high-octane fellow
that his 'type A' personality precluded him from tolerating tardiness,
inefficiencies, and any perceived lack of quality.
I strongly suspect that what he was experiencing was
a severe frustration over a haphazard work ethic about which he had no control
or recourse, and responded loudly in his impatience.
Somehow
I can see this very clearly in others, and only after-the-fact in myself.
It is important to understand a very fine line of
distinction in this sermon:
·
it is NOT okay to do less than is needed and/or required and in a timely
fashion
·
it is not my responsibility to make certain anyone beyond my realm of authority does their job right
·
the marketplace of competition will eventually provide quality and
service while weeding out those not rising to the level of expectation
·
if you don’t like any available providers, do it yourself – your way, and
raise the bar – that’s the great impetus for entrepreneurs
Proverbs 14:29 "A patient man has great
understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly."
A
person of responsibility makes certain that everything within his/her realm of
responsibility is done in a manner that, in the minimum, meets or exceeds
expectations with quality and timeliness - meeting or exceeding the
competition.
A person of responsibility tolerates nothing less
than that within their own arena.
A person who becomes impatient with someone
else’s arena should
·
understand his own realistic limitations in the situation,
·
evaluate unmet expectations,
·
do
business elsewhere if the provider isn’t willing to meet your needs.
In that you have responsibility - you are a leader. Leaders
must develop understanding. Understanding and sympathy aren’t
the same thing!
Understanding
only comes with patience. Otherwise, one tends to
look like a fool...been there, done that, too often.
Patience? How do I get ‘understanding’ with patience?
It takes a few moments to:
·
understand your own realistic limitations in the situation
·
evaluate unmet expectations
·
decide to do business elsewhere if the provider isn’t willing to meet your
needs.
Because it takes a few moments to do these
assessments, it takes ‘patience.’
There will always be those whose intention of
delivery is haphazard and minimal. It doesn’t make any difference what the
product or service.
·
Understand that continuing to deal with those folks will only raise your
level of frustration.
·
Also understand that trying to deal with someone who has a different
horizon of ethic will generally be an exercise in futility. There’s rarely any
benefit to be gained in attempting to change their horizon – it will only raise
your blood pressure.
·
You can’t adequately explain frustration over unmet needs to bystanders.
Being a leader isn’t accepting the services which
routinely come available, but is exercised in meeting the needs of your
horizons by matching horizons with service providers. There are plenty of folks
who want you to be ‘nice’ and just get along accepting that ‘that is just the
way that it is’ - but that isn’t exercising leadership. Nor will ‘just getting
along and being nice’ ever provide assurance of continuing improvement or
quality products or services for those in your responsibility.
A patient man
has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man looks like a fool.
Don’t waste your emotional energy and reserves on
situations beyond your control. Live and learn.
It
isn’t a sin to be impatient. The Apostle
Paul had his moments of impatience, so did Jesus. I doubt seriously that Jesus’
mother was very happy about Him losing his patience and whipping the
money-changers out of the temple, turning over tables, shouting, quite
animated…Mary was undoubtedly embarrassed. At one point she and Jesus’ brothers
and sisters thought he had gone crazy.
I’ve been a bit crazy before, in my impatience.
Perhaps you have too.
Jesus said, “…be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”
Matthew 10.16
“In your
patience, possess ye your soul.” Luke 21.19
Irritated?
Impatient? I look in the mirror every morning and say,
“Get a grip, my friend, get a grip.”