Patience is a character trait that is hard to learn. I haven’t much patience so why am I writing about it? I really don’t know except I want more of it and I know that all of us can learn to be more patient. Even the word patient seems rather impatient, don’t you think? I think the word should spell patient like this: payshent.

We are not born with patience, that’s for sure. A baby cries for his food or to tell he wants to be changed. And he wants those things right now, certainly not when Mama has the time to do it. And when the baby grows older he wants that toy right now. He doesn’t have any idea about patience. Don’t you remember how it was at Christmas? Evan an older child is in a hurry to get to his presents.

So, we have to learn patience, don’t we? Have you ever watched two people in the hospital. One is grumpy and is impatient to go home. His roommate is relaxed and always has a smile on his face whenever a nurse or visitor enters he room. Which one gets to leave the hospital first? Could it be that the second person had learned to be patient?

Typically, we want everything to go along smoothly. Our goal is peace at any price. But the real world isn’t like that, is it? Pressures come upon us and if we aren’t patient we fall apart. Think about the day you had planned to take a day just for yourself. You deserved that. And the phone rang just as you were leaving the house. You picked up the phone and learned that your little girl is sick and you will have to come and get her. Your day is shot! Are you impatient with your little girl for spoiling your day? Or, do you think more about how the girl feels and make her feel comfortable?

Or, how about that day when everything went wrong. The washer didn’t work, you spilled a whole jug of orange juice, the baby was getting another tooth and was extremely unhappy. On top of all that you had to go to the store and get something your husband had promised to bring home the day before. Did you make life awful for the kids and your husband when they came home later that day? Or did you tell yourself none of this was their fault, take a shower and calm down and learn a little patience?

The Bible has much to say about patience. We need to learn we can’t always have things going our way. It does no good to be grumpy or impatient when things don’t go the way we have planned. Maybe a prayer asking God for patience might be in order for both me and you. After all, the world will look brighter, our family will be happier and we will feel better if we all learn patience!