“Stop Listening to Your inner Serpent”
A Week with W. H. Auden
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.”
Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return. –The Dyer’s Hand. Pt. 3, “The I Without a Self” (1962)
I almost didn’t include this Auden passage because it hits too close to home. I am not a patient person, and that doesn’t come as a surprise to my family, friends, congregation, or anyone who has ever met me. My motto is, “If it is worth getting done, it is worth getting done yesterday.” The problem with impatience is that you have to sacrifice many essential things in life because they are not expedient. Sometimes the most crucial things in life do not work under the weight of expediency. For example, reading your child a bedtime story is often not the most expedient decision, but it can be the most meaningful choice over the long term.
Auden was brilliant in equating impatience with the sins of Adam and Eve. Their sin was not being satisfied with the paradise that God provided. The serpent represents the impatient mind, calling Adam and Eve to grab everything in the garden, all of which is theirs for the taking except for one tempting apple. Why is it we cannot wait? Parents complain that their adult children expect more than their parents have without saving for years the way their parents did.
Our impatience has caused us to sacrifice the hopes of the third world’s populations. Our impatience forces us to put off addressing climate change. The list of sins caused by impatience is nearly endless. Today, think about your moments of impatience. What problems did your impatience cause in your life and the life of others? Then, ask God to forgive your impatience and provide the emotional self-control and maturity to make the best possible decisions over the long term. Don’t listen to your inner serpent. Listen to the calming, wise words of the Holy Spirit instead.
