Practicing Patience

Surviving the Holidays (Pastor Kathryn)
            It’s crazy to think about, but the holiday season is right around the corner! Five weeks! For some, the holiday season is a time of excitement and joy. For others however, this season is met with apprehension and dread. There is a third option too; where some of us feel the tension between these two emotions. Excitement and dread at the same time. And that is okay! As humans our emotions are so complex, and sometimes feeling joy and grief happens at the same time. It happened to me a lot over the past couple of years.

Most of you know that my dad died in the winter of 2020. What some of you may not know is that I lost my grandpa that same year. Two crucial pillars of our family were gone in four months. It was a lot of grief to carry along with the mass grief everyone was experiencing during the height of COVID.

One thing that really helped my mom process her grief was a group called Grief Share. You may not have heard of it before, but it is a multi-week small group that helps people walk through the loss of their loved one(s). After going through the group herself, my mom started her own Grief Share group at church and has been leading it for the past year and a half. Grief Share has a special one day session called “Surviving the Holidays” that addresses the grief that some of us may feel around the holidays and ways to navigate these events. My mom has actually offered to come lead “Surviving the Holidays” for our Eastside family!

“Surviving the Holidays” will take place on November 19th, from 9AM to 11AM right at the church. Coffee, snacks, and materials will be provided for the class, so all you have to do is show up. Sign-ups will be online and in person at the church, and all are welcome. My mom has had people come who have lost loved ones recently or many years ago, so this class is for everyone and anyone who wants to come. “Surviving the Holidays” is a great way to connect with others who are experiencing similar emotions as you as well as gain helpful tools to navigate the holiday season as you walk through grief.

Practicing Patience (Pastor Kathryn)
 
I don’t know about you, but it is hard for me to be a patient person sometimes! It is definitely one of the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) that I have to work on the most. I remember being impatient as a child with my grandmother, Honey. We would always bake together when I was at her house, and doing the dishes was my least favorite part. I wanted to go and play with the model railway system my grandpa had built, or the dollhouse up in the attic while our treats baked. Doing the dishes was the last thing on my mind.

On top of not wanting to do the dishes, the dish soap dispenser was painfully slow! You see, Honey would put soap in an olive oil cruet. Since the pourer was fit for the consistency of olive oil and not Dawn dish soap, it would take a while for the dish soap to get going. I remember being so frustrated waiting for the soap to come out and asking Honey, “Why do you keep the soap in this darn thing?!”

She responded saying that keeping the soap in that dispenser helped her practice having patience. Sometimes in the most stressful situations, little things can send you over the edge. So, practicing patience with the dish soap helped her practice patience in other day-to-day activities as well.

There are many verses in Scripture that point to patience, but one that has been standing out to me is Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

When we clothe ourselves with (or actively choose to practice) these traits, it draws us closer to God as well as points to God. When we are patient in not ideal circumstances or high stress situations, it points people to why we are able to practice that patience. And we are able to have patience through God’s patience for us and his love. As you enter your weekend, what are small ways you can practice patience? Maybe it’s letting your pup sniff that mailbox for a little longer than usual on your daily walk, or letting your little one have a hand at helping you cook, or maybe, it’s putting your dish soap in an olive oil cruet (which I actually practice in my own home now!)
           
We hope to see you this Sunday, and enjoy the fall weather this weekend!