Patience, Persistence and Planning

Two unusual stories got my attention yesterday:

78-year-old Tony Kennington lives near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. 25 years ago he was given a 45cm (18in) ‘agave americana’ – a century plant – so called because it takes a hundred years to flower. He kept it indoors.

It grew. He planted it outside in a greenhouse. He didn’t know if he’d live to see it flower. This year a flower stalk appeared. It grew tall – more than 6m (20ft). He removed its glass roof. His patience, persistence and planning were rewarded.

A delighted Tony was interviewed on TV. His rare plant will now die; new plants grow around the base of the old plant. Tony doesn’t think that he’ll see them flower.

In the Swedish city of Kiruna, a 113-year-old church was relocated. Church leaders worked with industrialists and town planners. Engineers, working with heavy transport specialists, jacked the timber 672-ton structure onto a specially designed transporter.

Roads have been widened, viaducts demolished, lamp-posts and traffic lights removed;  large crowds lined the streets to watch. In its first hour it moved 30m. Moving at a maximum speed of 500m an hour, it travelled 5km (3 miles) in two days. More patience, persistence and planning.

Now resettled on its new site, the church will be carefully restored and rotated so its entrance faces the community, traditional for folk churches in Arctic Sweden.

This morning… reading Matthew 22… Synagogue leaders ask Jesus, ‘Which is the greatest commandment?’

Jesus replies: ‘‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’… A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’’

Love God, love your neighbour… carried out with

Patience… Not a one-off event or series of events… Day by day, week by week… Constantly, consistently…

Persistence… Not only when love is returned… Even when love’s difficult… When other factors could take precedence…

Planning… Not just when I feel loving or when it’s convenient… I deliberately build loving attitudes and actions into my life…