“Patience . . . is a habit of mind and heart that grows out of inner peace. Patience trusts God to be at work even in the frustrating events of life, whether it is engorged traffic or crying babies or implacable vendettas or a seemingly unending series of personal disasters. Patience thinks before speaking, aiming to avoid offending. Patience wills the self to see the world from someone else’s perspective – and to walk with that person through their world. Patience is rooted in hope because ‘if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience’ (Rom. 8:25). Patience takes the long view; unfazed by short-term setbacks, it will carry on unruffled instead giving up in despair. Patience accepts God’s timing and responds to others in a way that reflects the patience God has toward us. ‘With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord . . . is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance’ (2 Peter 3:8-9). Patience sees today in the perspective of eternity – and so can laugh” (Guard Us, Guide Us, 70).