But that meant I had to choose colors. I am not an interior designer of any stripe. All our married life we had to live so closely that the idea of buying something to "decorate" our home was foreign to my thinking. We only bought what we absolutely needed and that after we had repaired and mended and come up with every jury rig we could think of. And that included painting—we had never painted anything because we had never been able to afford paint. I felt like someone had thrown me into the deep end of the pool without teaching me how to swim. But, I sat and looked at paint cards and thought about every HGTV show I had ever seen and how they chose paint colors. I have to admit though, some of the things I saw were hideous to this untested paint palette of mine. Still, I was proud of myself when I looked at our new, but small, office space and thought, all by myself, "It's not a room for the public so it doesn't matter whether it looks bigger or roomier. It has two big windows on the east side so it gets plenty of morning light and there are no trees to shade those windows in the afternoon. That means I can go with a darker color." So I did—Lakeshore Blue by Sherwin Williams, if you want to look it up, and we love it.
But the larger living/dining area was woefully dark due to the lack of windows. And since it served two functions, it was somewhat cramped. So it needed a light color. I finally chose what looked to me like a very, very pale tan; but for some inexplicable reason, at least to uneducated me, it was included in the "whites." Whatever it is, I like it. Elegant comes to mind. But we wondered if one coat would do with such a light color. Mr. Williams—or is it Mr. Sherwin?--says it is a one coat paint so we trusted him and measured accordingly. It is indeed one coat paint, but it did not cover the amount it promised so we had to return to the store for more. I had never even looked at the name, just pointed to the color, but now I needed the name. Imagine my surprise when I found it: "Patience." After going through a difficult move with every glitch imaginable, I laughed out loud.
And of course, it also got me to thinking. Don't we all need a good coat of patience every day of our lives? Whether it's putting up with difficult people or enduring the usual trials of life, endurance—the Biblical meaning of patience—is sometimes more than a little challenging. Yet we have example after example of people who waited on God far longer than we seem to think we should have to. Abraham who waited till he was 100 for a child, 25 years after the promise of one. David who not only waited, but ran for his life for about 11 years after he was anointed by Samuel and promised a kingdom. And then he waited another 7 years until the whole country united behind him. Zacharias and Elizabeth prayed for a child for around 50 years, and kept praying for that child long after it was physically impossible for them to have one. The Jewish people as a nation waited a few millennia for their promised Messiah. Yet these people never gave up on God. They had patience.
And me? I'm more like the little kids in the backseat screaming, "Are we there yet?" till they drive their parents crazy. I think that maybe one coat of Patience isn't enough for me yet. Shame on me that I might need two, or even three coats. And so I will keep on trying until finally I live up to my billing, "One coat covers it all," because with the help of my Maker, it will.
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience [endurance] the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls (Heb 12:1-3).
Dene Ward