That’s Some Smile!

If you were to complete this sentence, how would you do it?  “He’s a saint; he has the patience of ___.”

With good reason, “Job” would likely be the most common answer.  I suspect that nobody finished the sentence with Leonardo da Vinci?  Yet, da Vinci’s patience is what came to mind recently when I read that it took him 12 years to paint the Mona Lisa.  Twelve YEARS on one painting – can you imagine?  Actually, that’s not true – according to officials at the Louvre, he spent 12 years on just the lips of Mona Lisa!  Experts claim da Vinci spent so much time on that aspect of the painting because he wanted to capture an air of mystery in her smile.

Admittedly, da Vinci is an extreme example.  However, it is a good reminder that excellence in anything requires persistence and patience.  We live in an age where “good enough” is considered acceptable.  It’s as if mediocrity is the goal of our day.  Yet, I believe most of us would like to be excellent in all we do, but perhaps we lack the patience required to get there.  For instance, I’d like to be able to play the piano with excellence, but I fear I lack the patience to put in the needed practice to gain that ability.  There’s a “wish to” but not really a “want to” in my case.  The missing ingredient is patience.

da Vinci was willing to spend 12 years painting a smile…what are you willing to do to achieve something of significance for God?  Ask Him today to grant you the needed patience to stick to the task. –Dave

“…the fruit of the Spirit is…patience…” (Galatians 5:22)

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