Thoughts of Grace

My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers temptations [or “trials”],
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.–
James 1:2-3.

We have need of patience
with ourselves and with others;
with those below,
and those above us,
and with our own equals
with those who love us and
those who love us not
for the greatest things
and for the least;
against sudden inroads of trouble,
under our daily burdens;
disappointments as to the weather,
or the breaking of the heart;
in the weariness of the body,
or the wearing of the soul;
in our own failure of duty,
or others’ failure toward us;
every-day wants,
or in the aching of sickness
or the decay of age;
in disappointment,
bereavement,
losses,
injuries,
reproaches;
in heaviness of the heart;
or its sickness amid delayed hopes.
In all these things,
from childhood’s little troubles
to the martyr’s sufferings,
patience is the grace of God,
whereby we endure evil for the love of God.
E. B. Pusey