Monopolising Patience by Emily Owen

Last month, I blogged about my annual MRI scan (here).

Last week found me getting the results of said scan, and so experiencing once again the patience of my surgeon. He answers my endless questions, never rushes me, explains my scan results to me. He has the scans waiting on his computer screen when I arrive and, at some point, will tilt the screen towards me; “Now, let’s look at your scans, shall we?”

Let’s. Even though I only recently - after years of asking him which side of the scan showed which side of my body – graduated to not needing to ask, he still says let’s. Together.

His patience is exemplary!

At one point during last week’s consultation, he commented, “Looking at these scans, I’m surprised you have any movement/function at all.”

And yet I do.

Perhaps sometimes we look at the ‘scans’ of our lives, and think the evidence we see doesn’t amount to much.

A verse I return to, time and again, is in Daniel 2, 27-28a:

Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, enchanter, medium, or magician can explain to the king the mystery of which he inquires. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries….

I can’t do it, but God can.

With God, the evidence we see does not tell the whole story.

Perhaps we are discouraged in our writing, or lack of sales, or lack of interest.

But there is a God in heaven….

We’re not doing it alone.

"Let's," says God.

With God, the evidence we see does not tell the whole story.

Perhaps we are encouraged in our writing, or mountains of sales, or huge surges of interest.

But there is a God in heaven….

We’re not doing it alone.

"Together," says God.

With God, the evidence we see does not tell the whole story.

Last weekend, my niece and nephew introduced me to a new-to-me kind of Monopoly.

Apparently, they own, “X Monopoly and X Monopoly and X Monopoly and X Monopoly….”

I didn’t miss the opportunity to comment that they seem to have a monopoly on Monopolys.

They didn’t miss the opportunity to give me a blank look followed by an eye roll.

All was well.

The version we played was Birds/RSPB Monopoly.

I passed ‘go’ and said, “£200, please”.

“They’re not called pounds, Aunty Memem, they’re called monopolies.”

By the end of the game – ie hours later – I had not only been thoroughly beaten, I had learned that they are called monopolies. But not without being corrected by my niece every time I had a turn.

Neither she nor my surgeon stopped at the ‘evidence’ but looked to what could be (me finally grasping monopolies/scans).

Their patience is exemplary, yet how much more so God's. God Who does indeed have a monopoly on patience.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord….is patient toward you…

God doesn’t stop at the evidence we see. His ways are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). He who holds the oceans in His hand (Isaiah 40:12) also holds us (Isaiah 49:16).

Where we see weakness, our ‘But God’ sees strength (2 Corinthians 12:9).

With God, the evidence we see does not tell the whole story....