SOMETIMES THE TRUE TEST of goodwill means the willingness to wait. Whether this involves holding on for an apartment to open up on a waiting list or sitting tight at a restaurant table because a friend is delayed, the quality of patience works to keep human interactions and situations sweet and moving down a constructive path.

Right now there are many opportunities for the international community to be patiently vigilant—to the end that Iran and North Korea, for example, will be increasingly upfront about their development of nuclear power and weapons production; or that China will act more and more reasonably for the good of workers and consumers, as that country evolves a market economy. It's worth noting how this quality of a patience, increasingly expressed among warring factions, has already contributed to a durable peace and accord in the longstanding troubles in Northern Ireland. A willingness to negotiate—or to actively wait, work, and pray, even when the outcome is delayed or uncertain—has also recently shown itself to be an effective force in ending international hostage situations, such as with the March 2005 release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Iraq. And closer to home, Jill Carroll, a correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor who also had been based in Baghdad, was released unharmed in April 2006 after a long vigil.

In everyday situations, it's not always easy to remain patient and serene when you find yourself on the waiting end of things, even if it's just a red traffic light. Technological advancements such as e-mail and the Internet have made information instantly accessible. We feel the urge to get what we want now, to keep everything moving, and expect others to act faster and more efficiently. But so much of the time, to be honest, the impatience we feel stems from the fact that we're afraid our own lives will become inconvenienced. Bottom line: Impatience usually heightens stress and tension, and seldom contributes to harmony and healing.

Sometimes all a person needs is another's willingness just to wait faithfully. To watch. To pray. To "be there." Perhaps one of the most poignant examples of a yearning for this type of abiding loyalty is in the account of Jesus' struggle in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. So much seemed at stake when he said to his disciples, his closest earthly friends, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me" (Matt. 26:38). This could have been a privilege for them—the master Christian was at their side! But instead of praying with Jesus, they sank into sleep, prompting him to ask, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" As Mary Baker Eddy observed, this turned Jesus forever away from trust in human help to God, to the one infinite Love that empowered him to help and heal a world.

Many today are lonely, sick, fearful, troubled. They're silently asking that same question—"Can't you watch with me one hour?" These are pleas for the same divine Love that Jesus felt—and for the ministering, healing Christ-power he taught and lived. Mrs. Eddy, who discovered in Jesus' teachings a practical Science for liberation from all the ills of this present age through spiritual understanding, saw the link between patient waiting and inspired, Christian healing. She wrote, "The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 367). This describes the unselfish constancy that forms a living prayer. It will bring healing to lives and nations as we express it first individually, then collectively.

The patience that heals, though, has nothing to do with appeasement, weakness, or apathy. It's not about enabling another person, or another country, to continue along paths of sickness or destruction. Christian Science never promotes patience with evil of any kind, because this would contradict the very nature of God and prevent the healing recognition of His guidance and power.

Expressing that "pitiful patience" with the world's fears means loving enough to keep acknowledging God's supremacy and to accept that He created us all in His perfect image—despite what the five senses may be dictating to the contrary. This takes commitment and effort daily, hourly, moment by moment. But it offers the sweetest of rewards, measured in terms of lives renewed, bodies made whole, conflicts ended, prosperity gained, and—perhaps most important of all—love expressed.