The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Impatient Sandwich: A Response to Frustration

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

Do you find it hard to be patient? Jeff discusses how hope and prayer are essential in developing the virtue of patience. Through Biblical examples and the analogy of early and latter rains in farming, Jeff illustrates the importance of waiting for God's timing. Snippet from the Show Hope and prayer help us adjust our expectations with Jesus and grow in patience. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 420, The Impatient Sandwich, a response to frustration. Hello, my friend, thank you so much for joining me this week, and what a week is. it has been. Last week I was talking to you about being with my mother and she received last rights and the apostolic pardon. And that was last Friday that I was talking to you. And then Saturday night, my mother of 88 years, she passed away in the evening. And we were all there with her. And it was a beautiful experience where we were able to hold her hands and pray with her.

We all gathered around her praying the rosary. And it was on the, I believe it was the seventh Hail Mary of that particular rosary that right when I said now and at the hour of our death, amen. My mother drew her last breath. And she surprised us with a little gift and she smiled. And that was it, a smile. And on to be with the Lord. And just a beautiful time.

But I want to thank you for praying for me. and praying for the family, praying for my mother. The funeral is going to be on the 11th of March. It's a Tuesday. We're looking forward to being with family and experiencing the beauty of a Catholic funeral. You know, I was a pastor for 12 years before coming back to the Catholic Church, and I can tell you that there's nothing quite like a Catholic funeral. We as a church are so, so a rich, I guess you would say, in our tradition of sending our loved ones on with the Lord, not only with the last rites, but also the apostolic pardon, and then the beautiful funeral.

And there's just nothing like it. You know, there's always time for a celebration of life, and I'm sure that we'll have something along those lines in the future. but I don't think we should ever substitute the funeral with just a celebration of life. Of course, we celebrate, and in the funeral there is a celebration of life. And it's a wonderful thing. You know, my dad died in October. He was 89 years old. My mother, March 1st, and she was 88.

That's a long, full life. And for that, we are grateful. You know, it's not many people who can keep all their parents with them that long. and grandchildren have grandparents, you know, clear into their 40s. That's a beautiful thing. So we're thankful and I'm thankful for you. And I took the time last week to be with you because you are family. I enjoy being with you and I think about you quite a bit.

So this week, I have been praying about this and I want to talk to you about something that we all experience, whether you're in my situation right now or whether you're in my situation right now or whether you are raising teenagers or you're starting a business. And that is the problem that we have with patience in our lives. We live in a culture these days where everybody wants what they want and they want it now. And everything is so quick. You know, you can go online on Amazon and you can order whatever your heart desires. You can order it.

And usually it's going to be at your first. front door pretty quick and people are becoming conditioned to instant response. And if they've got a wait a day now to get something, they're a little upset because they wanted it later on this afternoon. Whatever we're working on, whether it be a project, whether it be a home or education or raising kids, as I said, we can grow impatient. And patience is something that we need to develop in our lives as a virtue, especially in this quick-paced society. So that's what I'm going to talk about. The name of the show is The Impatient Sandwich, a response to frustration in our lives,

and all that will make sense in just a moment. Say, if you do want the show notes, and I do have some scriptures I'm going to be sharing with you today, if you do want those, all you have to do is type my name, Jeff Kavins, and text it to the number 3377.3377. We'll get you on the list, and the show notes will be yours every week. If, for some reason, you were getting them, but it stopped, please do it again, sign in. I would say, be patient. Be patient. Okay, so what I'd like to share with you today really has to do with the early rain and the latter rain in the land of Israel and all. all throughout scripture, we hear about the early rain and we hear about the latter rain. And that has something to do with patience.

And in order to understand patience from a biblical perspective, we really have to kind of put our minds and our hearts in the place of a farmer, someone who is used to planting and waiting and the rains and then finally the harvest. But we become impatient when we want the expectations of our hearts now. Maybe you can think about different areas of your life where just recently you've grown impatient in your life. Maybe people grow impatient even when leaving their house for church on Sunday morning. Mom and dad are ready to go, but the teenagers are still in the bathroom and they're getting all dressed up in the makeup and everything else. And you might grow a little impatient with your family even while going to church.

maybe you are impatient with your children's messy room. You know, I have three girls, all of them growing up in the same house, and I can tell you there were times I walked by those rooms. I won't tell you which one, but I can, I walk by those rooms, and I looked in there, and I thought, oh, my, how do they live in this place? And, of course, we said, clean up the room, and it seemed like we were pulling teeth. And then there's also the remodeling of your home. I know that a lot of people are remodeling their homes.

They're finishing off their basements or maybe the exterior of their home. And it's just a long, long process. And they become impatient. We need to get this done. We need to get it done now. Or you can become impatient with someone at a restaurant up ahead of you or a driver up ahead of you. That can certainly happen in today's day and age. But when you're experiencing impatience, I'm going to encourage you to make a spiritual sandwich.

That's right. When you are experiencing impatience in your life, for whatever reason, whatever situation, I encourage you to make a spiritual sandwich out of it by surrounding that impatience with hope and prayer. hope and prayer and I would call this the patience sandwich I guess you could say the impatient sandwich we're going to solve this with patience but we need hope and we need prayer I like what Paul says and I'll put this in the show notes for you in Romans 1212 Paul says rejoice in your hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer and if there's anybody that really understood impatience and wanting to see things change but maybe things were slow in change it had to

have been Paul he was so busy he was working his life was threatened and uh and he was on the road constantly and he talks about rejoicing in hope if you're struggling with impatience in your life today, which is typically wanting the expectations of your heart now, now. He says, rejoice in your hope. And when we talk about hope, we're not talking about a hope so. We're talking about looking at your situation from God's perspective. It's not a hope so, but it's a hope in Christ. It's a hope in the Lord. And so rejoice in hope, in your hope. And be patient, Paul says, in tribulation.

If you're going through a difficult time right now and you are becoming impatient, then he says be patient. Be patient in tribulation. That's one thing to say, be patient. It's another thing to experience patience. It's not just a matter of being patient. You have to work at it. you have to place your hope in Christ, and in your tribulation, you need to keep your eyes on

Jesus, and that's what aids patience in our lives. And he said, be constant in prayer. So there's three things there that Paul says in Romans 1212 that will really help you when you feel impatient, when you feel frustrated with whatever is going on in your life. The timetable is not matching up to your expectations and Paul says you need to focus on hope hope that is grounded in Christ not hope that's grounded in your own expectations but hope in Christ and patience in tribulation and then of course prayer prayer be constant in prayer and that's where I come up with this idea of a spiritual sandwich where we have our impatience surrounded by hope and prayer hope and prayer hope and prayer Paul also says to the Romans in chapter 8 and verse 25, but if we hope for what we do not see,

we wait for it with patience. And so using the analogy, and this is such a good one, and I identify with it, and perhaps you do as well, when we talk about raising teenagers, for example, and things are not developing quite the way you wanted to see them developed. It's not quite as fast and incomplete. Well, there is a temptation there to become impatient and frustrated and maybe even speak out in ways that are less than uplifting, less than fruitful. And Paul says, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. And you might be hoping for certain developments in your children and their in their habits around the house or in school or with their friends.

and you feel like, you know, I really have sown the seeds. I really have taught my children. I've read scripture. I've tried to become an example for them. And I don't see them acting in the way that I want them to act at this point. And Paul says that we need to wait for it with patience. You know, recognizing change in other people's lives around us or our business. They don't always happen on our time frame.

You know, it seems so slow. And that's when we become impatient. And Paul is trying to get us to develop patience in our life, patience with one another, with our children, with our spouse, with our employer, perhaps. Hope is what? Hope is reorienting your expectations with Jesus, overseeing the situation.

Let me say that again. I think this is one of those things you might want to write down, take with you throughout the day. Hope, remember Paul says, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Hope is reorienting your expectations with Jesus overseeing the situation.

Now, when we think about patience, I think one of the greatest examples of people who have learned patience are farmers because the work of a farmer isn't just nine to five and it's not just one month or two months or one season. But the work of a farmer stretches out over the year and they don't typically see the results immediately. And I would suggest that if you are struggling with impatience with your teens or your spouse or people at work, you might want to look at this whole situation from the perspective of a farmer. Now, James has something to say, and I'm going to put this in the notes for you.

James chapter 5, verses 7 through 11. Listen to this in light of your situation. He says, be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Say that again, be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold the farmer. The farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. Two different rains. We'll talk about that in a moment. The early and the late rain.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged. behold the judge is standing at the doors as an example of suffering in patience brethren take the prophets who spoke in the name of the lord behold we call those happy who were steadfast what a great what a great word from james there so let's take a look at this okay from the farmer's perspective the period of october and november in the farmer's life in Israel, October and November rains were called the early rain. And then March and April in the spring, March April rains were called the latter rain. So you've got the early rain, October, November. You've got the latter rain March and April. And this is in reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit working in the lives of your teens and your spouse and those

at work and your siblings and neighbors, right? Now, the early rains, which are October, November, fall at the time of sewing, causing the seed to germinate, and begin growing. And so when you planted seeds in your teens, when you planted seeds in the relationship with your spouse, that was during October, November. That was the early rain.

the time of the sewing, right? Sowing the seed, causing the seeds to germinate that early reign of October and November, and it begins to grow. And at the beginning, there's tender shoots. Just tender shoots arise. It's not, it's not robust. It's not gigantic or big in any way. It starts off small. But those early rains are very important. And maybe you put the kids through school. Maybe you paid for all that Catholic education. Maybe you, you know, prayed a lot for your spouse for years, in fact. Well, that's the early rains, October, November, where you prayed, you interceded, you stood in the gap and you prayed, you begged God. And then there comes that point where you start to get frustrated. How come things aren't changing? How come everybody

else's kids seem to be holy and on the verge of sainthood. And mine are still in reform school. Maybe you feel like that. Maybe you feel like, you know, everybody else is passing you up and your kids, your spouse, your business, legs behind. Well, the early rains once again fall at the time of sewing, of sewing. But then the latter rains, what do they do? Remember, when that is, right? That's March April. The latter rains are just as important as the early rain. The latter rains ripen the fruit and bring it to maturity. The Holy Spirit moves the process along, we could say. The goal is that the likeness of Christ would be perfected in us and our loved ones. Don't become impatient before the latter rains. Don't become impatient. Don't

take things into your own hands. Don't press the issue. Don't force it. Don't force the growth here. In your kids or in your marriage. Be patient. Change is a process. It really is.

So once again, we've got the early rains in October, November. That's when you began to plant seeds and you started to pray. And then you're going to reach that point where you're like, man, when are we going to see change? Well, you got to remember, there's latter rains, March and April, the latter rains. And that is where there's going to be this growing. It's going to begin. It is going to become fruitful. And there's going to be maturity just around the corner.

This is the Holy Spirit moving the process along. We'll talk more about this in just a moment. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name is Father Josh Johnson. and I want to invite you to join me this Lent for set free. A series of daily video reflections based on my new book, The Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins. Starting March 5th in the Ascension app,

we'll focus on getting to the roots of the sins we struggle with in our day-to-day lives, all of which stem from the seven deadly sins of wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, greed, envy, and pride. And the gospel, Jesus says, when you pray. But he also says, when you fast. Most people know that Catholics fast during Lent, but what they may not know is that fasting is a powerful tool to defeat sin. As we learn more and more about each one of the seven deadly sins, we'll explore small fast and practical ways to grow in the opposite virtues so that we can root out and eliminate each one at its source.

You can learn more and download the free Lent action plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash father Josh Lent. To join, download and subscribe to the Ascension app today. Welcome back talking today about the impatient sandwich, a response to frustration. We've got hope and we've got prayers surrounding our impatience, keeping in mind all along the lesson of the farmer, the early rain in October and November, planting seed, big expectations. But then we've got to wait. We've got to wait for that seed to grow. and the Holy Spirit is over this process in your children, in your marriage, and don't give up.

You know why? Because the latter rains are coming in March and April, and those latter rains are going to ripen the fruit, bring it to maturity. We could be talking today about your children's spiritual growth. Listen, I was a pastor for 12 years before coming back to the Catholic Church. I know very well firsthand and second hand the frustration that parents have in not seeing the growth in their children. I know that. And the anger that can rise in your hearts when you start to look at our culture and what our culture is feeding our children, the bilge.

And you can become angry. Well, you can become angry or you can become hopeful, hopeful in the process of the Holy Spirit working in your children's lives. This could be true in your company as well. Maybe you have a company. You have a family business, and you have sewn a lot of prayer, a lot of money, a lot of hope into your business. But you're not seeing the growth yet. Well, let's wait here because the latter rains are coming. And those are just as important as the early rains.

And so on the other side of those early rains, you have. to once again continue to pray, continue to hope, continue to be patient. Change again takes time. And what about your spiritual growth or your spouse and their spiritual growth? Maybe they're looking at you wondering why you're not maturing the way they thought you would. We have to be patient. Your marriage, growth in your marriage. So look with patience. for the latter rain. Whatever you're going through right now, just take a moment and just say, Lord, I'm going to be patient. I'm going to trust in you. I'm going to wait for the latter rain. I'm going to wait for that latter rain in March and April. And I trust in you, Lord. My hope is in you completely. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to yell. I'm not going to blame. I'm not going to blame my spouse for our children. I am going to continue to hope in you, oh Lord. Don't put your hope. in chariots. Don't put your hope in technology.

Don't put your hope in the counselors of television these days. Put your hope in the Lord. Remember those who were patient. Remember that from James? I read that, James 5, 7 through 11. What did it say? Behold, we call those happy who are satisfied. We call them happy.

Those who were patient, they were called happy. They were called happy. So patience is very, very important here, and patience is the key to unity and strength. Listen, we all struggle with maintaining peace and unity at home to some degree. We do. At work as well. And in your marriage from time to time. But I love what Paul says to the Ephesians in chapter four, verses two and three.

Throwing it in today, it's free. He says, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience. forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now, here's what I would recommend. Based on experience, based on study, I would recommend that if you are struggling with patience right now, and you're frustrated with the growth of whatever, whatever it might be. Listen to Paul when he says, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, for bearing one another in love.

And then he says, eager, and this is so critically important for growth, you need to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. You see, the Holy Spirit brings unity to the family, unity to the marriage, unity between you and your spouse and children. You need to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Don't get out of control. Don't start blaming. Don't start yelling. Be patient with all lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love. Listen, March and April are going to come around. It's just a matter of time. Trust in the Lord and be hopeful.

Maintain that unity in your family. And allow the Holy Spirit to do what the Holy Spirit does so well. I like what Paul said to the Corinthians in 1st, Corinthians 13, 4, what did he say? He said, love is patient. Love is patient. So if you are trying to instruct teenagers, be patient. If you are responding to colleagues at work who are not at a place you think they should be right now, be patient, be patient. And if your spouse is not meeting your expectations, be patient. And you know what? God has been very patient with you. He's been very patient with you. Pass that patience on. Be to other people what Christ has been in your life.

He's not pushing you down. He's not yelling at you. He's not belittling you. He's not comparing you. He loves you. And he's patient. with you. Impatience can arise when we compare ourselves with others. Don't do it. Resist that temptation to compare. Psalm 377 says this. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way over the man who carries out evil devices. That's Psalm 377. I'm going to I'm going to throw that one in the notes as well. So if you struggle, if you you're struggling with patience right now immediately turn to the Lord and wait you will be renewed and you will be strengthened you know I'm out here in the woods right now and it's beginning to

thaw in Minnesota and so the the ground is showing through the snow and it's been a long winter it always is in Minnesota out here in the deep in the woods in Minnesota but I'm always reminded because there's a lot of eagles around our place out here. Every time I see an eagle, which we have a lot of them. I think about Isaiah 40 and verse 31, and I think it's apropos. I'm looking out here right now, and I can see an eagle. I'm reminded of Isaiah 40, 31. And it says this, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Isn't that great. But they who wait for the Lord. That's what I'm asking you to do this week. Wait for the Lord. You'll renew your strength.

You're going to mount up with wings, not like sparrows, not like a crow, but like an eagle. You ever seen an eagle? I can see them. See an eagle soar? It's amazing. They shall mount up with wings like a eagle. like eagles. See, they ride the thermals. They ride the wind. Anything blowing at them, they ride at even new heights. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint. So today, take a deep breath, my friend, and see yourself as an eagle. rise above the fray above your molasses road see today from God's perspective so that's a sandwich I'm encouraging you to to make today the impatient sandwich surround that impatience with hope prayer patience and God will do incredible things and remember this as you move into to the weekend and throughout next week. Remember this. There's two sets of rains, the early rains, which you know about the early rains, the early rains in October and November. Now you got to wait. And the latter rain. The latter rain, we've got to wait for that, March and April. Be patient. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life and your loved ones' lives.

Just a word of encouragement this week. I hope it helps. Again, thank you for all your prayers in my family's life. We really appreciate that and consider you family. Allow me to pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Jesus, I thank you so much. I thank you, Lord, for my friend.

And I thank you, Lord, for your ability to bring about change in those situations which they are feeling impatient. whether it's her children, their marriage, at work, whatever it might be. Lord, I pray that you will give them that disposition to wait for the latter rain where the fruit will begin to ripen and mature. We wait upon you, Lord, like that eagle. We're going to rise. We're going to rise on the thermals that come our way.

We're going to rise to new heights. Holy Spirit, lead us, guide us. Holy Spirit, give us a new way to look at the situation. And may peace come down upon us. In Jesus' name, amen. I love you, my friend. I really do, and I look forward to being with you next week already. God bless.

Thank you.