Lord, Give Me Patience!
1 Corinthians 13:4 (King James Version)
By George Bridges
4 ¶ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
In our fast-paced society, we seek to do things quickly. We want instant food, instant coffee, and instant communication, such as instant messaging and WhatsApp.
Most people don’t want to wait for anything, including me. We want to invest our money in the stock market today and hope that our stock makes us rich tomorrow (Day Trading and Forex Market). Others will take their hard-earned money and play the lottery, which increases more and more each year. People everywhere are looking for quick joy and happiness; dare I say, when they mess up, they look for a quick fix. Yet, consider the story of a friend who invested modest amounts in a diversified portfolio over several decades, reaping substantial rewards in the long run. Patience in investing can yield a rich harvest, in stark contrast to the fleeting allure of a lottery win.
When we are focused and things are going well, we get impatient with others. We want everyone to be in a hurry. If the cars in front of us are moving too slowly, you get impatient with the other driver. What about when you are entering a building or room with a lot of foot traffic? Whatever happened to simply opening the door for the person behind us and letting them go first?
Well, we are in a hurry until something goes wrong. The tire goes flat, the engine fails, the coffee maker breaks, or our body breaks down, and we get sick. There are some natural things that operate on a clock that are different from ours. We can’t, and we shouldn’t, rush our elderly parents or friends. We shouldn’t rush our kids when they demand our attention. Some of us are so in a hurry that we can’t even slow down to listen to our kids or our spouses.
However, love is just the opposite. Love is patient. Love will respect another person and not push them to do things in our own time. Patience is defined as calm, uncomplaining endurance. Patience is also defined as calmness in waiting and quiet perseverance.
There is one car that I like, called the Dodge Viper. This car can reach speeds of 180–200 miles per hour. I knew the car could reach around 100 miles per hour in 4–10 seconds, which is very quick. But what I found out from the owner of a Viper is that it can also come to a complete stop from 100– 0 in about the same amount of time. In our lives, we can move very fast to get to the top and go where we want to go. But what we sometimes may not consider is that we can stop just as fast. Our bodies can fail, our marriage can fail, our kids can be lost in what seems to be a short period of time.
We should all seek God for patience in our lives. Seek God to show us how to be calm and uncomplaining when things are not going as fast as we think they should go. If we really trust God, we know that He can work things out for our favor, in His time. When we do things in God’s time, it works. We should do things God’s way the first time and not have to start over because we were in a hurry and messed things up.
There was a recent situation at work when I needed to send a quote to a potential customer. I had gotten some information on how much to mark up the product. Being in a hurry to get this bid in, I submitted the bid, but later found out in an email that I just could not wait any longer, that I could have charged more and gotten a much bigger commission. So, I lost money by not being patient.
As you go about your day, I challenge you to choose one moment to wait without complaint. This small step can turn inspiration into a habit, encouraging a lifestyle of patience and love. Ask God for patience in every area of your life.
Have a great day in the Lord.
