2. Patience had an excellent memory. She could always recite her
memory verses with no problem. She memorized long passages of
scriptures. By the time she was six she had memorized the
commandments, and the testimonies and all of the books in the
bible. She knew Psalms 91 by heart since she was five. The 23rd
Psalms when she was three. In school it was no different. She won
the spelling bee, and she made straight A’s. So she couldn’t
understand what was wrong with her twin brothers, James and
John. They were six years old and couldn’t remember anything!
Her parents had been rehearsing with them for months now. All
they had to do was remember the testimonies! They got it all
mixed up. Their parents had to help them every Sabbath, in front
of everybody! Could it be? No! She couldn’t think that about
them, they were bad and awful, but they were her little brothers.
But could it possibly be that they were dumb? Patience shook
that thought away. How could they be dumb? Her parents were
smart, and she was smart, so they had to be smart, right? And
they didn’t even seem to care. They just punched each other and
made faces and pretended they were passing gas. Sometimes it
wasn’t just pretence. Gross!
After another Sabbath where Patience was embarrassed, (John:
Blessed are the peace breakers for they shall have mercy…. And
then James: Uh,uh,uh Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall have uh, uh uh. And then Sister Dinah saying loudly, well let’s
give them a hand. Good try boys, good try!), Patience decided that
she would try to help them herself.
It didn’t work out so well. They didn't want her help. They wanted
to wrestle, and watch Sponge Bob! Even on Friday night when they
knew they had to go to church the next day, they still just
wanted to play. She tried to appeal to their sense of pride, to
3. their sense of right and wrong, to no avail. Patience decided to
appeal to her mother. “Mom, what’s wrong with James and John?”
she asked. “What do you mean?” her mother said. Didn’t her
mother notice? “How come they can’t learn the testimonies? All
they want to do is play!” “Yes, I know” her mother sighed. “They
just need more time, they’re only six.” “I knew them at that age.”
she said. “Well, yes you did, but your brothers are not you!” She
went on saying how boys sometimes took a little longer than girls
at first, and how she was sure that they would catch on any time
now, and how we have to be patient with them because they were
just six, and remember they were born a little early… and blah,
blah, blah, all of the usual excuses about the twins and their
behavior. “But, Mom,” Patience said, “they act like they’re….” “Like
what? Like they’re what, Patience?” Unfortunately for Patience
she missed the warning look in her mother’s eyes. “like they’re
dumb!”she said. “Patience! How dare you call your brothers dumb!
I have never had a dumb child! You think you’re so smart? There’s
a lot you need to know!” “Well mom I knew all of the beatitudes
when I was six.”Patience said. “There is more to knowing
something than memorizing,” her mother said. “It doesn’t mean
anything to know what something is, unless you understand what it
means!”
Later on that week, her mother decided to prove a point with
Patience. She quizzed her on the meaning of each of the
testimonies during vesper Friday night. Her father looked on
smiling unaware of why there was tension between his two
favorite girls, as he called them, and the twins looked on hoping to
see Patience fail at something for a change. But Patience had
done more than just memorize. She actually listened some of the
time to the sermon and the testimonies at church. And she
listened all of the time to what her parents said, and watched
what they did. Somehow all of this soaked into her without her
even trying.
4. “OK Patience, you know we’ve been teaching your brothers the
testimonies for a while now, I’d like you to tell all of us what each
of them mean!” Her mother said in a firm way. “Ha! Ha!” her
brother James said in a way that sounded just like Bart Simpson.
“Yeah, Ha, Ha,” her brother John always followed James in any
mischief. “Shut up boys and listen, your sister can teach you
something.” Her father said.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit. It means to share!” Patience said.
“Is that all?” her mother said. “Well, I heard you talking to
Auntie Gina about how the rich people want to keep all the money
and don’t want to give anything to the poor. I guess if you’re poor
in spirit, you don’t care about having riches so you don’t mind
sharing. It’s like, it’s like you don’t be covetous.”Patience thought
it through. Though her mother was trying to teach her a lesson
she couldn’t help being proud of how bright and perceptive
Patience was. She had to fight to keep from grinning. Patience’s
father did not hold back. “Woa, listen to the girl, this is our
daughter! Baby you’re smart just like your mother!” His face was
lit up with a brilliant smile, all teeth! The dimple in Patience’ right
cheek came out. “OK, Patience let’s go on.” Her mother said.
“Blessed are they that mourn,” she recited. “It means to be sad
about something. Mom, you’re always sad when anything bad
happens to somebody, especially when it happens to somebody in
our family or in the church.” “Is that it?” her mother asked.
“Well, on atonement we have to fast and pray, and if we do wrong
we have to repent. Pastor Thomas said we have to cry to the Lord,
and the Lord will hear us.” “Very, good Patience, keep going.”Her
mother said. “OK, Blessed are the meek means to be humble, not
to have pride and to control your temper. Blessed are they which
hunger and thirst after righteousness, well that’s what we’re
doing now, it means to study the bible and to serve the Lord and
worship him.
5. Blessed are the merciful, it means to have compassion and pity on
someone even if they’ve done something mean to you, and to help
the poor. Blessed are the pure in heart means to give your heart
to God and to obey him and not get mixed up with bad things in
the world. Blessed are the peacemakers, means to try to stay out
of confusion or fighting, and to try to get along with people.” She
looked at her brothers pointedly, her parents pretended not to
notice. The twins were always fighting. “Blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake, and blessed are ye when
men shall revile, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely….well the last two are talking about how people
may mistreat you because you believe in the truth. They may talk
about you and make you feel bad. But God is going to bless you.”
“Excellent, excellent job Patience,” her father said. “Didn’t she do
a good job honey?” He said to Patience’s mother. “Yes she did,”
her mother said. “a very good job. You memorized the testimonies
and you understand the meaning. Patience, has anyone ever
persecuted you for righteousness sake?” Patience pointed to her
brothers. “They make fun of me all the time.” “I’m not talking
about that! I mean has anyone ever mistreated you for obeying
the Lord?” Patience thought for a minute. She had a lot of
friends. She was smart in school, and good at track and she was
the best in dance class. Her mother knew her teacher and always
explained to them if there was something that Patience couldn’t
do. Her best friend was Daisha, and she lived on her street.
Except for her brothers, things were pretty good for her. “I
don’t know, I don’t think so.” Patience said. “Well, Patience is
generous,” her father said. He always took up for Patience.
“Remember she gave some of her clothes and her toys to the
Smith family when their house burned down?” Her father said to
her mother. “And we never have to go to the school because she’s
gotten in any trouble. She studies her bible lesson, you know she
does. And I see what her brothers do.
6. She even tries to keep them from getting in trouble. She
protects them.” “I know that Patience is very good, but I want
her to be like her name. I want her to have even more patience
with her brothers. Patience is doing well, but she hasn’t been
tested.” Her mother said to her father. She was in serious
teacher mode now. She turned again to Patience. “Patience you
know and understand, but you also have to live in the testimonies
and it has to be tested. One day something is going to happen
that will make it hard for you to do what’s right. Somebody is
going to hurt your feelings or try to fight you, and you’re going to
want to do something to get them back. If you can keep the
testimonies then….well, you truly know the testimonies. And don’t
worry about your brothers. They are me and your dad’s
responsibility. We’ll get them in line. They’re just a little spoiled.”
A few weeks later Patience came to remember everything that
her mother said. Patience took modern dance at school. She was
naturally graceful and a gifted dancer. In fact she was the best in
her class. There were dance competitions. Her dance troupe had
won all of the city wide competitions largely because of Patience.
She practiced everyday for an hour after school. All of the girls
were excited. Her best friend’s mother was making costumes for
the next competition. This time they were competing in the
regionals! Every year it was held on the first Sunday of May. Two
weeks before the competition her dance instructor came to tell
them about a change in the date. Because scheduling problems,
the competition would be held on the first Saturday instead. It
would still be wonderful. They would all be taken in a bus and stay
overnight in a hotel. And since they didn’t have to go to school the
next day, they were going to go to the movies and to a restaurant
for lunch on Sunday. “It’s going to be great!” her teacher said.
“We’re going to have so much fun!” Yay! Everybody cheered.
Everybody that is, except Patience. “What’s wrong, Patience?”
Daisha whispered.
7. “It’s on Saturday, I go to church.” “So? I go to church on Sunday
and I go every year.” “But my parents…they’re not gonna let me
go.” “You have to go! You’re the best dancer!”Daisha said out loud.
“What is it girls?” asked Miss Simmons the dance teacher.
“Patience said her parents won’t let her go on Saturday because
she goes to church!” Daisha said in front of everybody. Everybody
turned to look at Patience their mouths round and frowns on their
faces. Patience wished she could run away and hide. Her face
grew warm, she couldn’t say anything. “That’s not fair!” “We need
Patience!” “That don’t make no sense!” ”Why can’t you go?” “This
sucks! Patience, you gotta go!”All of the girls in the dance class
began to shout at once. “Girls, girls, calm down, I’m sure when
Patience’s parents understand how important this is they’ll make
an exception just this once. They wouldn’t want Patience to let
everybody down after all of your hard work. That wouldn’t be
right. I’ll call your mother Patience.” Miss Simmons said. Her
words sounded OK, but she looked very concerned and very
annoyed. Patience knew that nothing that Miss Simmons said
would convince her parents to allow her to break the Sabbath.
Miss Simmons called Patience’s mother that evening. It went
exactly like Patience knew it would. She made it quite clear that
Patience would not be able to attend. “We have to obey the Lord.
I’m sorry this happened, but everyone has to make a sacrifice
some times.” Patience could tell that her mother felt really bad
for her, but she couldn’t help but cry. She knew that none of her
friends would understand, except maybe her best friend. Daiasha
had been her best friend since kindergarten. Their mothers were
friends too, and her religion had never made any difference
before. In fact, Daiasha had come to church with her a few times.
She seemed to enjoy herself too.
8. On the next day at school, some of the girls kept looking at her
and whispering and laughing. When she went to sit with Daiasha at
lunch she walked away from her and went to sit at another table.
She tried to talk to Daiasha after school. “Hey Daiasha, what you
want to do today?” “We have another rehearsal today, but you
don’t have to come cause you’re not coming to the competition. My
mother said that your parents are taking things too far. My
mother said it’s ridiculous that they won’t let you go. She said
that your parents are just being selfish!” The other girls came
closer giggling. They wanted them to fight. “That’s right, they’re
just being selfish trying to ruin things,” Bonilla said. “You don’t go
to a real church anyway.” “Yes,” said Pauline “Don’t nobody want to
go to your church anyway. You think you too good. Like you better
than everybody else. My mother said you all are just weird!”
Patience just stood there and didn’t say anything. She didn’t
defend her beliefs and she didn’t fight back. It was as if she was
frozen. Worse still, she felt hot tears beginning to well up in her
eyes. She wished she could disappear. “And my mother said you
don’t have to worry about coming to my birthday party, ‘cause it’s
gone be on Sa-tur-day!” Daiashia shouted drawing out the word
Saturday. Then they all laughed. Patience turned around and ran
all of the way home.
Patience went straight to her room and shut the door. She lay on
the bed with the covers over her head crying. Her mother came
in. “Baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying, did somebody hurt
you.” She pulled Patience in her arms. “No mom, it’s just that…it’s
just that….the competition, I can’t go and …..Daisha and
everybody are mad at me….and” she couldn’t go on and broke down
crying. Her mother just held her and tried to comfort her for a
long time. When she looked up she saw her mother looking hurt
and angry at the same time. Tears were coming from her eyes too.
“Patience, I hate what those nasty children are doing to you. They
are just ignorant.
9. I would have rather it happened to me than to you. I’d do anything
to keep you from being hurt. But it’s just not possible in this
world. I want you to remember that they hurt the prophets, they
killed them too, and they killed Jesus. It’s OK to cry, but I want
you to know that what we do in our family, how we believe is right.
You do know that don’t you sweetheart?” “Yes mom, but I thought
they were my friends. And Daisha, she started it.” “Well Patience,
Daisha was always jealous of you. You’re smarter and more
talented, and if I may say so, much prettier than she is.
Sometimes when people are jealous of you, when they get a
chance, they’ll try to hurt you. Daisha is not a true friend.” “I
don’t want to go back to school, mom! I hate them, I hope they
lose!” Patience was beginning to get angry. “You don’t hate
anybody Patience, that’s wrong. Don’t let these horrible girls turn
you into someone as bad as they are. You are going back to school
and you’re going to hold your head up. You did nothing wrong. I’m
going to have a talk with that Miss Simmons and the principal.
Thank goodness we have freedom of religion still in this country.”
“But that may make everything worse mom,” Patience said.
“Honey, you’re not in this alone. You’re my child. The teachers
need to know how you’re being treated. It’s not good to keep them
in the dark. Daisha’s mother called me, I know where Daisha gets
it from. Don’t worry about that girl or her mother. And Patience,”
her mother continued as she rose from the bed and began walking
to the door. “You know what the bible says. Don’t try to get back
at them. You treat them in the way that you would like to be
treated. Try to avoid any fights. Let an adult know if things are
getting bad. Your father and I are always on your side.”
After Patience’s mother talked to Miss Simmons and the
principal, they had a talk with all of the girls and told them if
they picked on Patience then nobody would be going to the
competition. The girls in the dance class still would not speak to
10. or play with Patience. But a couple of other girls and some of the
boys were still nice to her. Patience decided not to go back to the
dance class. She decided to play soccer after school. She wasn’t
that good, but she still had fun.
They lost the competition. The girls looked at Patience. Daisha
rolled her eyes. Patience walked on with Casey and Dwayne. They
were going to play soccer.
A month later Patience heard that Daisha had been hurt in a car
accident. She was going to be away from school for three months.
Her teacher asked Patience, since she and Daisha were supposed
to be friends, if she would take her school work to her on the way
home every day. Patience took a deep breath. “Yes, ma’am.” This
was not going to be easy.
“Here, Daisha,” Patience said, as she handed her the schoolwork.
“Mrs. Smith said it’s due back by the end of the week.” “Thanks
Patience.” “Does it hurt?” Patience asked looking at the cast on
her leg. “Sometimes, but my mother gives me pain medicine.”
“Well, I hope you feel better soon. I gotta go!” “Hey Patience, you
want to stay and watch tv with me?” Daisha asked. “I’m sorry, I
promised I would play with my brothers after school today while
my mother paints.” She said. “Thanks so much Patience,” said
Daisha’s mother, “it’s hard for me to get to the school, I don’t
want to leave Daisha at home by herself. I really appreciate it.
Come by anytime now. Tell your mother I said Hi.”
When Patience got home she told her mother what happened. Her
mother just smiled and hugged her. “I think you can teach your
brothers the testimonies, in fact you could teach a lot of people
the testimonies. I am so proud of you.” Patience ran up the stairs
11. “OK John and James, I’m the monster and I’m gonna find you!
Roar! I’m coming! You better hide!” She heard laughter and feet
running. Her little brothers may be wild, but they were a lot of
fun!
The End!