Patience

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My  former boss has told me more than once that I have the thickest skin of any guy he’s ever worked with. Truth is, I don’t. Insults hurt just as much as they do for anyone else. What I have is patience. Even then, I still lose it from time to time. I don’t have the patience to wait.

The worst part? Sometimes, the only people who see my impatience are the ones I love most. It’s crazy how we show our worst sides to the people who give us the most security. We assume they’ll understand, forgive, and move on—so all hell can break loose, right? Not right.

This Christmas, I’ll be on the road, away from the people I care about most. And I’ll spend the day practicing patience, surrounded by men who, like me, are somewhere they don’t want to be. They want to be home with their families, in familiar places, with friends. Instead, they are here, frustrated, impatient, waiting. Just like I am.

Life on the Road Teaches Patience:

  • People expect me to be home. Patience.

  • Coworkers don’t get along. Patience.

  • Flights get delayed. Patience.

  • I don’t want to be here. Patience.

  • There’s nothing I’m dealing with that others haven’t faced. Patience.

  • My hotel room feels like a prison cell. Patience.

  • I want to change things so I never have to do this again. Patience.

  • My wife doesn’t call enough. Patience.

  • When she does call, the timing is terrible. Patience.

  • People think I should quit. Patience.

  • My personal business is a mess because I’m not there to run it. Patience.

  • I worry my friends and family are slowly forgetting me while I wait on God. Patience.

  • My only connection to the life I want is Facebook… PATIENCE.

It’s easy to make a list of all the ways life forces patience while we wait for God to reveal His purpose in the mess.

Being a Christian is All About Patience:

  • God doesn’t make Himself empirically provable. Patience.

  • I wait for heaven. Patience.

  • I wait for my own sanctification. Patience.

  • I have to be kind when I don’t feel like it. Patience.

  • I look for the blessed Hope. Patience.

  • I live with people who hate Christianity and misrepresent it. Patience.

  • I see others misuse Christianity and tarnish its name. Patience.

  • I live with spiritual blindness all around me. Patience.

  • I don’t like the way the world is going. Patience.

  • I get mocked for my faith. Patience.

Waiting is the hardest part. Sometimes, we wait an entire lifetime. Life itself is a lesson in patience.

Patience breeds more patience. I am patient because God is patient.

Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, reminds us that God has the power to judge at any moment but chooses to withhold His hand:

"There is no Want of Power in God to cast wicked Men into Hell at any Moment... He is not only able to cast wicked Men into Hell, but he can most easily do it... Thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his Enemies down to Hell."

Numbers don’t bring safety. The fact that many agree with us doesn’t make us right. The only reason we are still here, still breathing, still waiting, is because of God’s patience.

Patience. Use it to get through the holidays with joy. Use it every day, for the rest of your life.



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