Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book: Patience and Impatience

Q: The Urantia Book gives specific examples of the dangers of being impatient. Where does the line go between being inactive or impatient?

A: That is a good question, and thanks for writing...

As you observed, The Urantia Book does give several examples of the dangers of impatience. I will list them here, for the benefit of other readers:

Impatience is a spirit poison; anger is like a stone hurled into a hornet's nest. 48:7.10

Most of the liberties which Lucifer sought he already had; others he was to receive in the future. All these precious endowments were lost by giving way to impatience and yielding to a desire to possess what one craves now and to possess it in defiance of all obligation to respect the rights and liberties of all other beings composing the universe of universes. Ethical obligations are innate, divine, and universal. 54:4.4

The "golden age" is a myth, but Eden was a fact, and the Garden civilization was actually overthrown. Adam and Eve carried on in the Garden for one hundred and seventeen years when, through the impatience of Eve and the errors of judgment of Adam, they presumed to turn aside from the ordained way, speedily bringing disaster upon themselves and ruinous retardation upon the developmental progression of all Urantia. 74:8.14

Probably no Material Sons of Nebadon were ever faced with such a difficult and seemingly hopeless task as confronted Adam and Eve in the sorry plight of Urantia. But they would have sometime met with success had they been more farseeing and patient. Both of them, especially Eve, were altogether too impatient; they were not willing to settle down to the long, long endurance test. They wanted to see some immediate results, and they did, but the results thus secured proved most disastrous both to themselves and to their world. 75:1.6

Serapatatia [associate chairman of the Edenic commission on tribal relations] was entirely loyal to the plan of building up a strong reserve of the violet race before attempting the world-wide upstepping of the confused peoples of Urantia. But this would require hundreds of years to consummate, and he was impatient; he wanted to see some immediate resultsâ€”something in his own lifetime. He made it clear to Eve that Adam was oftentimes discouraged by the little that had been accomplished toward uplifting the world. 75:3.6

One day when Ganid asked Jesus why he had not devoted himself to the work of a public teacher, he said: "My son, everything must await the coming of its time. You are born into the world, but no amount of anxiety and no manifestation of impatience will help you to grow up. You must, in all such matters, wait upon time. Time alone will ripen the green fruit upon the tree. Season follows season and sundown follows sunrise only with the passing of time. 130:5.3

It is easy to see that most of these references have to do with either the default of Adam and Eve or with the Lucifer Rebellion. Both of these vital missions of spiritual truth to our planet were irreparably harmed because of the impatience of those who wanted results, and they wanted them NOW.

It is a fine line that has to be drawn between taking action, and displaying impatience. In the case of these high spirit beings, upon whom so much depended, that line was crossed, to the detriment of the whole planet - even the whole of our planetary system. In our daily lives, we will likely not have those kinds of dire consequences to face if we jump the gun in our efforts to see results, but still, impatience can harm us, and mar our future lives.

We are creatures of time - and time is a vital element in the unfolding of our lives. As Jesus says, "...everything must await the coming of its time." One of the challenges that we face is this idea of allowing our lives to unfold - of cherishing the present time and living in the now, which is all we can experience of eternity. We can envision the future, we can work for it, but the most important work we can do is to live right here, right now, doing the next best thing. In this way, we create a future that is good. We can certainly make things happen by precipitous action, but is it the right thing to do? Unfortunately, as in the case of Adam and Eve, the consequences of actions are not felt or realized until after the actions are taken. So, it would seem that thoughtful deliberation and prayer must be employed before we decide to "make it so." Sometimes, the future that we envision, a future that could be forced by our action, might not be the future that is the best one for us, and then we must suffer because of our impatience. If we "wait upon time," we might even gain even more than we thought possible.

I think that one of the best things we can do in this regard is to follow the example of Jesus, who spent quiet times of meditation and prayerful receptivity. He was fond of communing with the Father in this way, and as we know, his life unfolded according to God's will always. Many times he said: "My hour has not yet come," while awaiting the right time to begin his ministry to the world. One has to wonder what might have happened if he had decided on his own to begin his public work before the time was right...

In my opinion, impatience seems to have its roots in pride - a childish pride that demands a result that, while it may be a good thing, could prove disastrous when not allowed to flower on its own, with the patience and endurance of time. Again, Jesus says it all: "Time alone will ripen the green fruit upon the tree." That idea of an end result may be good, but it is unripe until the passage of time allows it to ripen. Unripe fruit can be very bitter...

I think that when we sincerely determine to live our lives in the eternal "now," that we are prompted, or otherwise receive some inner wisdom to act when necessary. With prayer and sincerity, following the example of the Master, we can act with assurance when the time is right. With practice, and by experiencing the fruits of our actions, we may eventually learn to toe that line between right action and impatience. This is a benefit of growing older, I have found - although I still suffer from impatient action, much to my own dismay. Youth is notoriously impetuous, and many times acts on impulse or out of impatience and inexperience. The wisdom of age shows us the value of being still and waiting upon time, and even the young can learn this lesson.

Thanks again for this great question!

Labels: activity, Adam and Eve, impatience, Jesus, Lucifer, patience

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