Are You Willing to Wait?
What are you willing to wait on? It is interesting to me what people are willing and not willing to wait on. A lack of patience seems to be the norm today.
I am a Tech Person and one of the more common complaints I get is, "my computer is so slow." As I investigate the problem, I ask when the slowness is occurring, with a certain program, a website, at startup, and their response is, "all the time!" When looking further into the issue, I find that their complaint of slowness is really just thirty seconds to one minute of wait time. Another example of waiting is when asking someone to hold down the power button on the computer until it shuts off, their response is, "I held it down for a long time, and it didn't shut off!" Come to find out a long time for them is five seconds.
So five seconds to a minute is a long time for people to wait in the computer world and five minutes is a long time to wait in the Walmart line, yet people are willing to wait hours for other things. Forty-five minutes isn't too long to wait at a favorite restaurant. An hour and a half wait for a ride at Disney World is acceptable. We camp out for days to get the best tickets to a concert or a football game, the newest video game, or be the first to see a new Star Wars movie.
I don't think as a society we suffer from a lack patience, we suffer from selective patience. We are selective of when we will be patient and when we won't. We expect not to have to wait on some things, yet are willing to wait on others. Why are we so selective with our patience? Shouldn't we be patient in every situation?
How patient are we when we want our prayers answered the way we want them answered? How patient are we when we don't get our way or don't get what we feel we deserve? How patient are we when others are irritating us, when someone asks the same question over and over again? How patient are we in finding a solution to a problem? How patient are we with people in leadership? I would guess most of us would answer, "not very patient" to these questions.
The Bible is filled with God's instruction to be patient and to wait. Psalm 27:14 NIV, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Proverbs 19:11 NIV, "A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense." Proverbs 25:15 CEVUK, "Patience and gentle talk can convince a ruler and overcome any problem. God would not instruct us to be patient and wait if He didn't give us the power to do so." And this one, Galatians 5:22 CEB, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, ..."
We often pray for patience, but God has already given us all the patience we need. We don't need to pray for more patience. We need to pray for the wisdom to use our patience in all circumstances, not just when it suits us. No matter what we are waiting on -- a slow cashier, a grumbling parent, an unanswered prayer -- we must remember that patience and gentle talk can overcome any problem. The next time your find yourself praying for patience to deal with a disgruntled co-worker or client, recite one of the verses above and thank God for already giving you the patience and strength to show His love in all situations.
JODI HENDRICKS IS A LONG-TIME MEMBER OF FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. SHE TEACHES ADULT AND YOUTH BIBLE CLASSES.
Religion on 12/13/2017