Impatience

I am learning to be patient in everything. It's a work in progress especially in some situations. I want cashiers to work faster when I'm in a long line, even though it's evident they're doing the best they can. I want my refund at once if my package  was lost or stolen. Why should I have to wait five business days, this should be instant. If I  have a really good business idea to help earn enough so that I can help others, which is my heart's desire, I want it up and running right away. No time spent taking it to the Lord in prayer. It's like it should exist first and then I can ask God to bless it, forgetting that His word clearly says I'm to commit my works to Him and my thoughts will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)

It appears the older we get, the less patient we become. I would often see the elderly crossing the street and wonder why they are so impatient. To me, their focus is on getting to the other side of the street and not whether it was safe to do so.  

A lot of times we're in a hurry to go nowhere. The person walking up some stairs in front of us may very well be going at the only pace they can go. We don't know what they're going through. We can exercise a little more patience with others.

I once wrote to the city because of a stop sign. When it was time to walk it changed before I got to the other side of the street. I am not a slow walker and was thinking that the people who were in charge of setting these timers, didn't take the elderly or disabled into consideration. One would have to be a very patient person when making these decisions, to consider how it would affect everyone and not just the able bodied.

I did a search and found that one of the synonyms for impatience is violence, yes you read that correctly. There's also anger, annoyance, intolerance and agitation to name a few. These are some of the attributes of not being patient. Waiting in a long line as simple as it is, can lead to agitation which can quickly escalate to violence especially if someone cuts into that line. We must slow down mentally and understand that there are times in life where we just have to wait. When we're travelling we are required to show up three hours before an international flight. We do it because we have to. 

As believers we should not go our own way, we shouldn't want to either. God is not on our time table, we're on His. We do not know what's ahead of us, He does. He is sure of everything, we are not. Some of us might have wasted a lot of time and resources on things we didn't wait to hear from God about. We have seen how those hasty decisions turn out. His plans are much better for our lives than anything we could ever come up with. If He has placed desires in our hearts and blessed us with abilities and skills, He is faithful to see them through. We still need to be patient and wait for Him to guide us to where we need to be. Being patient builds endurance which enables us to stay prayerful as we wait on the Lord. 

Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

The end of a thing is better than its beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.