Talking Tuesday: Patience

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Last week I read Vassilios Papavassilou's Meditations for Great Lent in a day (it is a small book) and found it quite edifying.  I wanted to share his thoughts on patience as one of the virtues we are trying to cultivate when we say the prayer of St. Ephraim during Lent:

O Lord and Master of my life:
Give me not a spirit of sloth, 
despair, lust of power and idle talking.

But give rather a spirit of purity, 
humility, patience, and love
to me, thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, 
grant me to see my own faults, 
and not to judge my brother, 
for blessed art Thou, 
unto ages of ages, 
Amen.

Fr. Papavassiolou considers the prayer in parts, and this is what he has to say about patience:

"But patience also means endurance.  The greatest form of patience, and its greatest test, is patience in the face of suffering--the ability to endure wrongs and afflictions patiently.  It is rooted in humility, for the humble man does not consider himself worthy of more than he receives.  Patience understands that the here and now is not the be-all and end-all.  That is why the humble man is patient with people.  He knows that the person before him is not the whole being, not the finished article--just as a good teacher is patient with his pupils because he sees their potential, and knows that their knowledge or abilities will grow in time and with patience and effort.  Patience is a truly divine virtue.  God Himself is patient, because He sees all ends and knows the outcome of all things.  The more we trust in God, the more patient we become."

~Vassilios Papavassilou, Meditations for Great Lent. Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2012, 63.

I found it helpful to think about things in this way, as I struggle a lot with perfectionism, both in myself and as applied to others.  A way for me to cultivate compassion (and by extension, patience) is to view the person before me as unfinished, a work in progress.