By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
Every year I impatiently wait for Christmas. I love Christmas, but I don’t like waiting. The season of Advent (which started this year on Nov 30th) teaches us a lot about waiting, not just to remember Jesus’ first coming in Bethlehem, but also to wait patiently for Jesus’ second coming. Waiting in an age of instant gratification is hard. That is why Advent rarely every get commercialized.
Impatience is one of those areas where God has been nudging
me lately. I am one of those people who
like things to happen yesterday. We
Hirds are go-getter people who love to see things completed. I am so often impatient with myself when
writing a new book or newspaper article.
In my sequel Restoring Health:
body, mind and spirit, I speak about Titus who was a first-century
go-getter. Titus reminds me of my
father, Ted Hird, who always gets the job done.
At one of my father’s retirements, his company, Microtel, gave him a statue of a horse in memory of my father’s
billing the company for a dead horse.
Working in Newfoundland for three months with the snowy roads sometimes
impassible, my father hired a farmer’s horse to drag the telecommunications
equipment up the hill. The microwave tower was finally finished, but the horse
died. Titus-like leaders make things
happen against impossible odds.
Hidden in our strengths are our greatest weaknesses. That is why we can’t see them, and often
don’t want to change. Persevering people
rarely want to admit their stubbornness, and their need to be more
flexible. Administratively gifted people
rarely see how painful they can be when they slip into micromanaging of others’
lives. We Tituses are great people to
have around when you need a job done. But we can be painful to be around when
our impatience causes us to be too pushy, too controlling, and too anxious.
I remember impatiently waiting for Christmas as a little
child. I desperately wanted to see the
Christmas presents waiting for me. So we
talked our grandmother into going into my parents’ bedroom to show us where
they were hidden. The famous passage 1
Corinthians 13, which is read at many weddings, reminds us that love is
patient. True love waits. Waiting makes
Christmas that much better. It is so
hard to wait. It is so tempting to take
the matter into our own hands and prematurely solve things. Recently doing my doctorate taught me that
quick fixes fix nothing. Genuine lasting
transformation takes time. Lasting
change needs to be thoughtful and intentional.
We all want to be better people, especially at Christmas. Becoming more Christlike however doesn’t
happen overnight. We can’t just wake up
on December 25th and suddenly become the most patient loving person
in Canada.
The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector
BSW, MDiv, DMin
St. Simon's Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in Canada
-previously published in the December 2014 Deep Cove Crier
-previously published in the December 2014 Deep Cove Crier
2 comments:
Ed,
I so get this. Especially:
Administratively gifted people rarely see how painful they can be when they slip into micromanaging of others’ lives. We Tituses are great people to have around when you need a job done.
Too funny as I am reading and studying Titus right now.
Blessings and Merry Christmas to you and your family,
Janis
Candid and inspiring Ed! You are most certainly a go-getter, and I'm sure I could use a little more of that quality myself.
May your impatience while waiting for Christmas be "candied" with the sweetness of kindness (I'm sure it will!) :)~~+~~
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