"It is patience, sitting right beside the doubt"

(the title is a line from a song by Ellis, which my children say I play too often)

1 Samuel 13:5-18

Samuel told Saul to wait until he got there to make the burnt offering to God in preparation for battle.But Saul became impatient and made the offering before Samuel arrived.

Because of this, the kingdom was taken from him.

Any parent knows the importance of patience.

So often it would be so much easier to just take the situation in hand ourselves and do what needs to be done.

But we really need to let our children, our friends, our parishioners -- whoever is ultimately responsible for the outcome -- we need to wait patiently and let them do what needs to be done, or decide what needs to be decided.

And we need to patiently wait and watch even if they fail, letting them learn and live with the results of their choices.

Of course, this means we can also more fully rejoice with them when they succeed on their own!

Gracious God, I pray that over the years I have in fact stepped back enough, waiting patiently, so that my children leave the nest prepared to choose and act with self-confidence and a healthy dose of patience of their own.

And God, thanks for the patience you have with me, too.

(from 1 July Friday in week of Proper 8)