Patience is simply taking the trouble to notice the needs of those around us. --Eknath Easwaran
Isn't that wonderful? Doesn't that bring you up short when you remember how often you say or think that you have no patience? Which translates to: "Me, first; you, not even in the race."
I once heard an old, wonderfully unkempt attorney say that the most spiritual thing we will ever do is slow down. I make note that he was old and unkempt and an attorney because that was all I could focus on at the time. The fact that he was old and unkempt made him nobody to pay attention to in my self-involved mind, but that he was an attorney gave him some legitimacy. That became my push-pull judgmental ponderings, i.e., street person versus educated person...can he say anything worthwhile for me?
Then I was gifted with a blinding flash of the obvious speaking his words in my ear. Just as I was heading for my race-race, run-run downhill slope yet again, I was hit with the truth of that statement.
The most spiritual thing I will ever do is slow down for it is in slowing down that I can see, can perceive, the needs of those around me. And there it is. There is the spirituality of patience.
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment