Situated for Patience

How many of you have understood the importance of making an effort to be patient? For me, I think I subconsciously saw how important patience was back in High School, when I wanted the guy I liked to make the first move toward a relationship, but kept convincing myself that it would not hurt to encourage him. It was my lack of faith and patience talking me into acting easy, and it actually ruined my chances.

But romantic relationships are not the only times when patience is badly needed. It is when we're in line at the store (or movies), when looking for the right moment to ask a parent or boss for something, when sitting at the doctor's (or dentist's) office, even when waiting those 9 months to have a child. I think though, at least here in America where I live, just about everybody understands how important it is to exercise patience on the job.

For me, in this new year, in a joking way but at the same time dead serious, I have expressed my wish to be a new person insofar as being in control of my anger and my temper, and those around me have congratulated me on the difference they have seen. I saw how damaging my old ways had been. I saw that quite often the result of my angry, and sometimes unkind words was not at all productive. I also realized it really was not my place to voice my criticisms of people. I was not their boss. I was not paying them. I was volunteering opinions that were inconsequential.

So, I recognized that my behavior was not getting the result I wanted. But I think what made the difference that people are seeing is my determination to be nicer. More than any adjective that people have used to describe me, I've been told that I am strong. So I applied my strength, along with my determination to getting a change made.

Today I had a kind of difficult day. But I realized that God cannot make miracles happen overnight. Sometimes, you've taught certain things, people have observed certain things, but they may not be ready to show you outwardly what you mean to them. It's like pulling something up on the computer. A number of destinations have to be contacted, and what your are waiting for needs to load before anything becomes visible.

♬   Twila Paris: I Commit My Love to You