Patience is indeed a virtue

Have you ever heard your mum or your teacher saying that, patience is a virtue? Well, very so often, we all want the dull moments to pass quickly but yet want the richest moments to last as long as possible. Guilty of it? I am too.

Anyway, I was reading a chapter in I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris and he shared about a story on patience in the context of treasuring the moment we are in. Adapted from the Book of Virtues by William J. Bennet - The Magic Thread.

In this French tale, we read of Peter, a boy who is strong and able yet sadly flawed by an attitude of impatience. Always dissatisfied with his present condition, Peter spends his life daydreaming about the future.

One day while wandering in the forest, Peter meets a strange, old woman who gives him a most tantalising opportunity - the chance to skip the dull, mundane moments of life. She hands Peter a silver ball from which a tiny, gold thread protrudes. "This is your life thread," she explains. "Do not touch it and time will pass normally. But if you wish time to pass more quickly, you have only to pull the thread a little way and an hour will pass like a second. But I warn you, once the thread has been pulled out, it cannot be pushed back."

This magical thread seems the answer to all of Peter's problems. It is just what he has always wanted. He takes the ball and runs home.

The following day in school, Peter has his first opportunity to put the silver ball to use. The lesson is dragging, and the teacher scolds Peter for not concentrating. Peter fingers the silver ball and gives the thread a slight tug. Suddenly the teacher dismisses the class, and Peter is free to leave school. He is overjoyed! How easy his life will now be. From this moment, Peter begins to pull the thread a little each day.

But soon Peter begins to use the magic thread to rush through larger portions of life. Why waste time pulling the thread just a little every day when he can it hard and complete school altogether? He does so and finds himself out of school and apprenticed in a trade. Peter uses the same technique to rush through his engagement to his sweetheart. He cannot bear to wait months to marry her, so he uses the gold thread to hasten the arrival of his wedding day.

Peter continues this pattern throughout his life. When the trying times come, he escapes them with his magic thread. When the baby cries at night, when he faces financial struggles, when he wishes his own children to be launched in careers of their own, Peter pulls the magic thread and bypasses the discomfort of the moment.

But sadly, when he comes to the end of his life, Peter realises the emptiness of such an existence. By allowing impateince and discontement to rule him, Peter has robbed himself of life's richest moments and memories. With only the grave to look forward to, he deeply regrets ever having used the magic thread.

Very often, people want what they want or what they think they want, which is usually "happiness" in one form or another. The irony of their impatience is that by only learning to wait, and by a willingness to accept the bad with the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile.