Forbearing and Confronting: Finding a Balance
Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek and other works, once wrote about a time when he came upon a cocoon resting in an olive tree. The infant butterfly was just starting to break through. The young Kazantzakis moved ever so close and breathed on it. The warmth of his breath caused the butterfly to prematurely emerge from the cocoon. The butterfly’s wings, however, were not adequately formed. Unable to fly, it soon died. Kazantzakis had impatiently intervened and interrupted a process he didn’t understand, thus preventing life from adequately forming. Sometimes our lack of tolerance, understanding, and patience prevents life and character from adequately forming, thus doing great damage. I can think of relationships in my past that have been damaged and ruined because of my impatient interventions. A healthier result would have ensued had I pursued the proper course of exercising patience and restraint. In writing to the church at Ephesus , Paul says, “Live worthy of ...