Growing in Patience …

patience1“Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth, and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.” (Psalms 25:4, 5)

If I were to ask you how is your patience level these days … what would be your response? “I don’t have time to answer that!” or “Ask me some other day when things are going a little better for me.” Or “Are you kidding me? You want to know what MY patience level is! “It’s none of your business!”

Do you get the idea of where we’re going with this post? We’re talking about PATIENCE … yours and mine and the very real need to be growing in patience.  You see, that’s really what God is expecting of each one of us.  The older we get in life, the more mature we should be getting in life.  Take a look at the definition of this easier word to say than to practice:

Patience defined: As a noun, it means “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.”   (Oxford English Dictionary) Synonyms for this significant word are as follows: “forbearance, tolerance, restraint, self-restraint, stoicism; calmness, composure, equanimity, perseverance, persistence, endurance, tenacity, staying power, doggedness, determination, resolve, resolution and resoluteness.” (Oxford English Dictionary).

Hmmm, are you and I as patient in the following areas among many as we need to be?

  • Being patient with others and all of their little idiosyncrasies … whether at work, in the neighborhood, in the church, or life in general.
  • Being patient with those of our own family! Spouses are just people like us.  Children are just little people trying to grow up into big people.
  • Being patient with ourselves! There are those times when we just don’t measure up to our own expectations or those of others; there are times when we just flat blow it; there are times that we just can’t seem to get it right!

What about our patience with God? Have we ever been impatient with Him when He didn’t seem to act as swiftly or justly as we thought He should; when He didn’t seem to answer our prayers as quickly or as we thought He should? Folks, are we learning how to “wait on the Lord?” Have we truly learned to trust Him enough to wait on His plans, His purposes, His schedule, His timetable?

There is just so much more we could say about this much-needed quality in our lives, but for now please remember the following thought:

Being more patient in life will cause us to slow down when we realize that it is our great and loving God that is in control … not us! When we learn over time to improve in this area of our lives … we will be really glad that we put forth the effort.

“Patience is the companion of wisdom” —-Augustine of Hippo

Bill Fairchild, Jr.

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One Response to “Growing in Patience …”

  1. Craig August 6, 2015 at 3:10 pm # Reply

    Thanks so much brother!

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