On Strength And Patience (This Is Personal) – Josh Journal
It is easy to acknowledge and respect a man of strength while overlooking and underrating a man of patience.
In that same breath, why is strength regarded as a masculine quality and patience as a feminine quality?
I know women who are strong in every sense of the word. From physical and brute strength to mental, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and other areas. These women are fighters. Warriors.
And I know men that are more patient than Job. Give them a word, and they will wait on it. Even if the world is falling apart at the seams, they will patiently wait.
As for me, I like to think I have the right combination of strength and patience. I am not saying I have enough of either, but I don’t think I lean heavily in one direction. But then everyone likes to think they are balanced.
Except for the occasional fellow that is unashamed and unabashed to concede that they lean heavily in one direction. They own their stance.
The reality is that every situation doesn’t need strength and patience in equal proportion. Sometimes you need strength, sometimes you need patience.
Wisdom is knowing which is right for each occasion, and in what measure.
Even in dealing with babies, there are situations when you need all the strength you can garner. And there are times you just need to be patient with them.
If you use patience instead of strength, you end up watching the baby burn themselves in the fire. And if you use strength instead of patience, you just might kick the baby in annoyance.
When dealing with adults, it is a little more difficult to apply patience. Especially when the person is pushing all your buttons.
Sometimes, you know you are stronger than the person, and you are tempted to display your strength just a little. Hoping that will drive the fear of God into them.
Sometimes I’m like Lord thank you for this patience, cause if I had the strength, I might end up in jail tonight.
I cannot say I haven’t lost my patience on the odd occasion. Thankfully, those were the moments my strength failed me too.
God knows what I would have done to some people if I had the strength to deal with their foolishness and stubbornness at the time.
Whenever I say God works in mysterious ways, I’m always including the times he prevented me or someone else from waking up with a black eye.
Like I use to hear, “Olorun a fún alagbara ni suru.”
Don’t let your impatience cost you what your strength can never purchase. Never damage in anger what you can’t fix in your moment of serenity.
Just as there is that “post nut clarity”, there is a “post punch clarity” too.
If you know you don’t enjoy apologizing after the fact, then you need to learn to be patient. From biting back some words to folding your hands rather than throwing a punch, you need to do whatever it takes.
In all these, I pray for strength for that which I can handle, and patience for that which I can’t. And I pray for wisdom to differentiate between both.
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL
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