Patience is in short supply. None of us are born with it and few develop this admirable quality. It seems like a mystery why a day can be going so well and then suddenly something goes wrong, we lose our temper. Sure, we all know the reason for the outburst, something happened that didn’t fit into our plans and caused some kind of discomfort. What makes this reaction curious is that we would expect everything to always go the way we want in our lives!
While we would rather not admit it, we struggle very much with the delusion that the world and everything in it revolves around us. There is a latent belief that everything should turn out in a way that makes us happy. Of course, this thinking leads to a great deal of discontent because regardless of what we might believe, things don’t always work out our way.
Consistent and constructive patience becomes a possibility when the bubble bursts regarding our illusion that everything is all about us. When we accept the reality that the God who made all things, including us, is at the center of his creation, we begin to see life, including the problems, from a much different perspective. The more we learn about God, the more we understand how patient he is with us. That truth is the motivation to develop a greater level of patience in our daily lives.
If you are regularly upset that the people and circumstances of your life don’t align with your thinking, join us this Sunday morning. Come with a mind open to the possibilities of what God’s patience with you means and how it can change your life. It’s worth a try, isn’t it? It’s got to be better than living in a state of being ticked off much of the time!