Thought for the Day - Monday 2 May

Romans 12:12 (New Living Translation)   Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. In Romans chapter 12, Paul spells out the duties of believers, how we should live, how we should behave towards others and also, how we should behave towards each other.  Some of this we will see as normal and as how we would behave naturally but some of the other aspects, we might find a bit more challenging.  If I were to write about it all, it would amount to lots of thoughts for lots of days so I’ll leave it with you to check out in your own time. We are told in today’s short reading to keep on praying and that is fine as long as we are already praying to God on a regular basis, and I don’t mean just that hour on a Sunday morning.  Many will pray in times of trouble and desperation and that is ok, but if we are prepared to get down on our knees before God when we’re struggling, surely it’s only right that we thank Him when things are going well for us. ‘Be patient in trouble’.  On thinking back to times when I’ve been in difficult situations, I reckon these have been amongst the most impatient times in my life.  If you’re in trouble, you’re continually looking for and maybe even trying different ways to solve your problems.  I’ve heard of some people who allegedly have the ‘patience of a saint’ but I can’t say I’ve encountered many throughout my lifetime.  However, in this chapter, we are told we need to change the way we think about a lot of things in our lives and, on looking back, did being impatient ever help us get to a solution to our problems any quicker? ‘Rejoice in our confident hope’ is such a short sentence but it promises so much and quite simply, gives us a reason for living.  Without this confident hope in eternal life without pain or sorrow in the presence of our saviour, what would the future look like? Prayer Heavenly Father, we thank you for all things.  Help us appreciate our friends more and those with whom we are in regular contact.  Help us learn to be more patient with those we know and with all those whose life we might touch.  If we are impatient, help us to change.  Help us develop the regular habit of coming to you in prayer and let us appreciate just what a gift this is.  Amen.