Active Patience

Patience is an important virtue, but patience does not mean being in inertia. “Active patience” is not idle waiting, but relying on Divine wisdom by acting in accordance with worldly causes. If patience is deprived of action, there may be negative consequences. It can even cause a person to fall into despair.

“… like active patience, there is active hope. When seeing a chicken lying on eggs, you probably say that that animal is sleeping on its legs in indolence. In fact, it presents an example of active patience. You would never know what kind of pains it puts up with during those three weeks! It collects almost all of its body heat in the chest and strives to transfer that heat to its eggs, day and night, without sleeping a wink; then, it turns its eggs with an exceptional caution and feels extremely afraid of breaking them. It has never been observed to waste its eggs by moving mistakenly. Just as a chicken demonstrates active patience by its delicate sensitivity, fastidiousness, and animal consciousness, we, too, should bear active hope befitting of human beings.”¹⁾

“What falls to our share today is to put our faith in God, to walk with added determination on the path we know as straight, to embrace everyone as compassionately as we can, and to pronounce even to hostile groups our overflowing love for humanity. What remains beyond this is to be content with God’s will, to assume active patience against the exasperation of the time, and to move forward with consideration.”²⁾

“Being persistent in both verbal and actual prayer, putting forth a determined and stable approach regarding the topic of obtaining your desire and walking towards your goal step-by-step with active patience is one of the most important conditions of obtaining results. The request of the lover of prayer may not fall into his heart immediately; a person may not sense the truth of the prescribed Prayer in a few days, a few months, in fact, a few years. Consequently, it is very important to be persistent in fulfilling the reasons that will lead to results.”³⁾

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