One of my greatest personal struggles is with patience, or should I be more specific and say a lack of it! I have always found it challenging having to wait for things and am someone who likes to get on with things. Please tell me I’m not alone in this and that maybe you find this tricky too?
As we enter a new month I felt challenged to choose patience in my day to day and I am expectant for an interesting and at times challenging month. When I told the Lovely Mr B about this month’s choice he actually laughed and said “finally”. Oh dear!
So here goes…
I sometimes find myself getting overloaded with things to do and would prefer to do lots of things at the same time so I can get them done quicker. This may be in small stuff like carrying too many things down the stairs at once to save time which invariably involves me spilling or dropping things! On one occasion I actually dropped a half filled cup of coffee into my lovely new Cath Kidston bag (I was so cross with myself but it hasn’t stopped me doing it again). Every time I think the same thing, why do I do this? Why not just do a few trips?
Or, I might ask the Lovely Mr B to help me with a job around the house that I can’t manage myself and inevitably I don’t have the patience to wait for a convenient time for him and instead try and do it on my own, usually resulting in me hurting myself. Does this sound at all familiar?
Sometimes, my lack of patience is in the ‘bigger stuff’ like wanting God to do things in me or in seeing change come in my sphere of influence or area of ministry, in my time frame not His.
Thank goodness God is God and not like me! He is such a loving and patient dad. The bible is full of wisdom about the value and importance of patience and in fact it’s one of the fruits of the spirit.
Gal 5:22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
As I have been reading about patience I have found that:
- Being patient in reacting to things avoids trouble. If I thought things through more it would help life to run more smoothly.
- God is developing my character in the wait. In fact, waiting for things to happen forms character. How is God developing my character in this season?
- God’s timing is perfect! So why the rush?
One of the most well-known verses in the bible about God’s timing is,
Ecc 3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
I have definitely found that when I have prayed about being patient God has put me in situations where I have had to be patient! When God is developing us we have to be patient and trust in Him. He has the best plans for us and they are plans to do us good. When we rush in we may miss all that God has for us as we are not in line with His plans and the thing we are rushing to do may not be right for us in this season.
I am learning that being patient is about God changing me and developing me ready to be used by Him and I am learning to view ‘waiting‘ differently.
Patience is the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed.
OR,
Patience is the level of endurance one can have before negativity.
Do you have to be patient at the moment? In the waiting what are you doing? How are you using this precious commodity?
A really big challenge for me is…
In being patient am I still being positive or am I slipping into negativity?
This is something I am going to be focusing on this month and will be attempting to choose patience with a smile and a positive attitude!!!!
Watch this space!
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