Article February 3, 1997 Issue

Patience—not just waiting

Richard Amand Hogrefe

"Be patient!" When I was growing up, I disliked those two words! I thought being patient meant never getting what I wanted. So, for the most part, I became very impatient!

Not until years later, when I was serving as a Christian Science chaplain in a large prison, did I learn something of what patience really means. The prison had three chapels, and I was assigned to one of them. This particular chapel was deep within the prison yard. I would go in, put up a little sign that read "Christian Science Chaplain Present," and sit down and wait. Days went by and no one came. It seemed as though I was wasting my time. I told myself, "Be patient!" But the more I told myself this, the more impatient I became.

Then one day, while filling my time in the chapel with spiritual study and prayer, I realized I wasn't just waiting. On the contrary, I was sitting in the very presence of God, Mind, working for Him. This work consisted of acknowledging the divine presence. It entailed gaining an awareness of divine Love—and including everything around me in it. I realized that I was not waiting, in the truest sense, in a physical location. You might say I was "waiting" in Mind. I had the liberating feeling of being at the very center of Mind—the very heart of God. I perceived this center, which has nothing at all to do with physicality, as a peaceful, sacred place, filled with divine Love, and the sweetness of Love permeated my thought. I was filled with indescribable peace. All impatience was gone, along with any feeling of burden or sense that I was on a personal mission to do good.

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