Poets & Saints

Isaiah 30:15 (NRSVUE)

For thus said the Lord God,

the Holy One of Israel:

In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

Brian Zahnd, Blessed Are the Patient

A woman in the kitchen baking bread

A farmer in the field sowing seed

Both know they must trust to

Tiny miracles of fermentation and germination

Jesus says—

This is how the kingdom of heaven comes

Quiet and slow, almost unobserved

Nothing like tramping armies on the march

Or the inane noise of political campaigns

Violence is swift and lies are loud

So the kingdom of heaven is slow and quiet

Blessed are the patient

For theirs is the way of heaven

Blessed are the patient

For they'll be proved wise

Blessed are the patient

For time is on their side

Instead of fighting, striving, conniving

They can wait for the bread to rise

They can wait for the wheat to ripen

Causes, crusades, and campaigns cannot wait

And for this reason they cannot be wise

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread"

Those in a hurry to change the world

Just make the world more of what it is—

Loud and proud and bound

To the powers that be

So Jesus alludes to something other

A woman in her kitchen sipping tea

A farmer on the porch with his pipe

She's waiting for the bread to rise

He's waiting for the rains to come

And Jesus whispers—

This is the way to be

Blessed are the patient

For they do it right

Blessed are the patient

For they keep their peace

Blessed are the patient

For they change the world

(Without even knowing it)