August – Patience/Gentleness/Grace

Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  (Colossians 3:12)

When developing the ‘Mission Focus-THHS Year at a Glance’ calendar, it was a no-brainer that August needed to be about patience, gentleness and grace.  Even though we are still in holiday mode, we start realizing how quickly July blew by and that we have only one more month of summer before we ramp up to the fall.

These ‘dog days of summer’ can be very hot and tiring.

We can be stressing over things like the heat, the speed at which summer is flying by, and the knowledge that September is just around the corner. And these feelings of stress and anxiety can impact how we behave at work.

Our ‘fuse’ may be just a little bit shorter. We may not behave as gently towards others as we’d like to. Our usual level of patience could possibly be just a tad worn low.

We could be just plain tired.

So this is the perfect month to focus more than usual on living in the moment.

Taking a little extra time in August to focus ourselves might be worth trying out. Intentionally being more quiet, meditative, prayerful, and relaxed in order to focus ourselves on the now and not worry about tomorrow, might be a good idea. I’ll confess, if you don’t already know this about me, I’m not the most patient guy at the best of times. So believe me, I’m speaking as much to myself as anyone else. I need to take my own advice.

As the verse above says, let’s intentionally clothe ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience this month.

Everyone, including ourselves, will be the better for it.

Let’s strive for patience, grace and gentleness as we continue to be ‘The Hand of God in the Heart of the City.’

Peace

Dion