Today is the third Sunday of Advent, a time of preparation for the Christmas holiday. Advent is a time of waiting, of patience, of anticipating the celebrations to come. Waiting can often be hard, and Americans have become a very impatient people. We want Uber and DoorDash to be here now, our streaming video to load immediately, and our political solutions to be implemented yesterday.
It’s a time of waiting in Idaho politics too. We anticipate the upcoming legislative session and May primary elections, hoping to see our principles victorious in those arenas. Yet that too requires patience. Politics is a slow and deliberate process, and elections and sessions take many months of preparation. That can be a hard pill to swallow for people of action.
The necessity of patience reminds me of a great story from English history.
The Year of Our Lord 878 was a low point for England. The Danes had launched a massive invasion, known as the Great Heathen Army, gobbling up all the kingdoms of England except for Wessex. Being the fourth son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, Alfred surely never expected to reign in his own right, but his three older brothers died in turn. The salvation of the English people was in the hands of a 22 year old man who would go down in history as the only English king to ever be called “the Great”.
After spending Christmas in his stronghold of Chippenham, Alfred and his men were set upon by a Viking horde and he barely escaped with his life. The flower of England was reduced to one young king and a ragged band of men hiding in the marshlands.
According to folklore, Alfred was sheltering in the home of a peasant woman who asked him to watch some cakes she had baking over a fire. Alfred, though, was lost in thought, and why not? The future of not only his father’s kingdom, but every kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons was in his hands. How was he going to defeat the Danes and save his people?
Unfortunately, Alfred let the cakes burn, and got a scolding for his trouble.
Are you letting your cakes burn while you’re looking ahead to the next big thing? Our crises are perhaps not as dire as those faced by King Alfred, but they still threaten our way of life. Neverending expansion of government, regulations that imperil our God-given rights, and out-of-control bureaucracies are all problems that must be solved, but we gain nothing if our efforts come at the expense of our families, our homes, our health, and our communities.
Too many good people are burned out by politics. As we proceed through the Advent season, take some time to breathe, to cultivate patience as we prepare to tackle the issues at hand. Don’t allow politics to distract from your own healthy lifestyle, maintaining your marriage, spending time with your children, and building bonds within your community.
Cultivating patience is perhaps the best defense against burnout, allowing us to continue as happy warriors rather than falling prey to cynicism and despair. As Paul wrote in the epistle to the Galatians, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
King Alfred’s patience paid off. He called all the Englishmen in the region to join his army and together they defeated the Danes later that year. The Viking King Guthrum agreed to convert to Christianity and withdraw from Wessex to what was henceforth known as the Danelaw. England maintains its independence and its identity to this day because the young King Alfred learned the value of patience, planning, and anticipation. He would go on to be one of the greatest leaders in English history, translating great works of Latin into the vernacular, rewriting the codes of law, building the first great English navy, and ensuring the survival of the English people for centuries to come.
May we be as successful in our own battles to come, but don’t burn the cakes while you wait.
