Day 23: Refrain from Impatience, Embrace Patience

Good Morning My Friends!  Hurry up! Read my blog! Don’t wait! Come on, come on, come on! Let’s go!

Now that I have your attention, let’s slow down and breathe.

Today, we’re going to refrain from impatience and intentionally choose to be patient. That’s right. God is starting our workweek and school week with patience, which makes me laugh because I know most of you are probably rushing around trying to get ready for work and school probably right now as I’m writing this.

By the time you’re ready to read my post today, you may need to calm down. This is good because God has something to say about our attitude today. So grab your donut and coffee and let’s calm down a bit while together we learn what God wants us to focus on today.

Virtues for Life

Have you ever noticed patience is amid the other great virtues in the Bible:  love, peace, joy, humble, gentleness, goodness, and self-control?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith” (Galatians 5:22, HCSB).

“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love,” (Ephesians 4:2, HCSB).

I’ve noticed. Patience is a member of the virtues club. The Bible calls patience a fruit of the spirit. Today, we’re going to dive into patience and see what it looks like and how we can live it.

Hurry-up Attitude

Impatience has the attitude of hurry up. It’s restless and has an eager desire to just get started on something.

Impatience doesn’t allow for waiting.

Impatience tends to get annoyed, frustrated, and angry that things are taking too long.

We can be impatient in a lot of circumstances and for a lot of reasons, all of which are self-centered. It’s all about me in the moment, right?

For instance, perhaps you’ve decided you need to have the dishes done right now because you have lots of others things to do after mealtime, but your spouse has decided watching the news on TV is what needs to be done right now.

Or, how about you don’t like that you have to wait in line at a store while they do a price check for the person ahead of you? Hmmm? Do you ever get impatient when that happens?

Stay Calm and Carry On

Patience is when we’re able to remain calm and not become annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with problems or difficult people.

Patience is done in a careful way over a long period of time without hurrying.

Patience is like the slow-cooker method rather than the microwave method of cooking.

Patience endures with a peaceful, kind, tender-hearted attitude.

Patience is accepting of time, no matter how long it may take.

Patience has the “stay-calm and carry on” attitude.

Patience verses Passivity

Don’t mistake patience with passivity. When we’re passive, we’re not engaged or active. We’re deliberately choosing to not do something. We’re “waiting” for or probably hoping someone else does whatever we’re supposed to be doing. When we’re passive, we are not living with patience. Rather, we’re excusing ourselves from doing whatever it is that we’re supposed to be doing.

Even grammar teachers frown upon using the passive voice. It shows no action.

Patience on the other hand, is not about not doing. Quite the contrary. Patience is action. When we’re living intentionally with patience, we are waiting. But not just waiting, we’re waiting with a godly attitude, the “stay-calm and carry on” attitude.

Waiting is the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or until something else happens.

Hurry up and Wait

Patience requires practice.

Practice waiting, that is.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, be careful what you ask God for because He will answer. Lots of times, He takes us out of our comfort zone to grow us up (i.e., mature us).

When we pray and seek God to help develop patience in us, we usually start with “Hurry up, God, and make me patient!” and then He makes us wait.

That’s what happened to me.

When my children were little, I used to say to them, “Chop, chop, chop! Let’s go!” I’d even clap my hands for emphasis. I wanted to encourage them to hurry. It could be in relation to going to school, church, the doctor. Didn’t matter. I said it all the time for everything.

One day, my sweet daughter, Dani, looked up at me and said, “Mom, I don’t like it when you say that. It makes me nervous!”

Yikes! Out of the mouths of babes, right?

I remember that moment vividly because God convicted me. I was impatient.

So, I began to ask God to make me patient. I honestly thought, He’d just zap me with a magic wand and I’d be patient.

Nope!

He made me wait for everything! I mean everything.

For months, He made me wait for so many things I’d been praying about and I saw no evidence that anything was happening in every single area of my life.

One day, I got incredibly frustrated and I actually said out loud to God, “Can you hurry up and make me patient, already? I’m tired of waiting!”

BOOM! That’s when the light bulb went off. Ahhhh, so that’s how I become patient. I have to wait. But He revealed to me it’s not just about waiting for things to happen. It’s staying calm and kind and joyful while I wait.

It was in those moments with God that I learned a big lesson about patience. Over the next year, I chose to allow God to mold my attitude while I waited for my children, while I waited in line at the store, while I waited for the doctor. God had me “wait” a lot too.

But I learned I could be kind, joyful, and full of peace while I waited my turn.

Many times I remember how thankful store clerks were when I finally got to have my items run up. They’d actually thank me for my patience. Many of them would confess how rude and angry some customers get because they have to wait a little while for a price check. That’s when I realized, I really was putting on patience.

Practical Application

So it’s Monday morning and I know there are many moms out there trying to help their kids get ready for school. If you’re like I was, you may be saying “Chop, chop, chop! Hurry up! Let’s go!”

Don’t do that. It only causes your children to be filled with anxiety.

I also know there are a lot of bosses out there chomping at the bits to get this workweek started. You, too, may be taking the “hurry-up” attitude with your employees. Slow down. Stay calm. The work will get done. Don’t rush your employees on Monday morning. They need a little transition time to adjust from their weekend to their workweek.

“Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,” (Colossians 3:12, HCBS).

Let’s start this Monday with putting on the right clothes. Pull out patience and see how good it looks on you. I know you’ll look fantastic!

Blessing for Your Day

[callout]“May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy” (Colossians 1:11, HCSB).[/callout]

Just for Today

Refrain from Impatience. Embrace Patience!