"Wait on God with patience, cling to him, forsake him not.
Thus will you be wise in all your ways."
Sirach 2:4
Trust God and God will help you;
trust in him, and he will direct your way; ...
Sirach 2:6
... and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.
Sirach 2:11
Read these verses without speed reading ... and with more than simply glancing. Buried in these words and thoughts of Ben Sirach is a genuine invitation to most Americans today ... the invitation to get off the American roller coaster and opt for a bench before a flower garden.
We know that we are not a patient people. Personally, I blame the computer for my own inability to pause and let God speak to me in ways that challenge my patience. Are you a patient person? The wonder machines of today's technology have infected most lives and prevent patience from become and remaining a principle operative in life.
As summer begins, let the days and weeks ahead be marked by an effort to make patience a part of life. Why? Simply because ... because ... because in is one of the keys to genuine wisdom. Remember wisdom? A gift of the Holy Spirit.
Ben Sirach was a man of peaceful wisdom. Although life will always be an experience with its trials, nevertheless, we should not distance ourselves from God. Life in the God-lane --- very different from the fast lane the millenials and ourselves will always require perseverance, loyalty and patience.
Our sage, Ben, says three times "Fear the Lord." He is not asking us to be afraid. Far from that, he invites us, he encourages us to surrender ourselves to God with genuine fealty. Do that, he would say, and you will never experience an absence of God's presence in your life.
