Be honest… are you a patient person? How are you when it comes to waiting?

If you’re like me, you’d like to think of yourself as a patient person, until an aggravating situation appears and gives you a reality check. Like being stuck in traffic on 1604 when you’re already late for a doctor’s appointment. Or standing in your bathrobe in your front yard at midnight waiting for your new puppy to poop.   

A couple decades ago I had a bad accident that crippled me. The surgeon who did my first two operations stood at my bed and said, “Good things come to those who wait.” It took more than 22 years for me to be able to walk pain-free again. That was some wait, believe me. But it took that long for the technology to be invented. I had no choice but to wait… and hope and pray.

For most of us, life throws challenges at us that force us to wait. No matter what we do, we cannot change the circumstances because we are totally out of control. How we respond to these events really does reveal our character. As Joyce Meyer said, “Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” That’s so true. Patience may be a virtue, but it doesn’t come automatically. We have to choose to be patient.

I find that impatience tempts me to take matters into my own hands, which inevitably makes a mess of everything. Whether it be workplace, family, health, financial or whatever issue, it’s difficult to wait, but even more difficult to regret our hastiness. Proverbs 14:29 underscores this truth: “Patience leads to abundant understanding, but impatience leads to stupid mistakes.” When we try to rush a process, we are bound to get an undesirable outcome. As Molière observed, “Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”

When you find yourself growing impatient, ask yourself a few questions: 1) Is this delay something I can or should remedy? 2) Could there be a greater good accomplished by my waiting? 3) Will I harm or offend someone else by demonstrating impatience? 

In 1 Corinthians 13, it says “love is patient.” That means it’s unloving to be impatient. Since God is the source of love, He is also the source of patience. When we find ourselves growing impatient, we would do well to pray, “Lord, please give me patience.” You might be pleasantly surprised.

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This article appeared in the July 2022 issue of “STROLL The Canyons at Scenic Loop.”