I
am enthralled lately about the concept of patience's perfect work in us (James 1:4). I used to
say, "Don't pray for patience, your life will get inundated with trials of
every sort."
However, I recently learned to embrace patience in the little
things, and I have had fewer major issues with which to deal.
You
know the little things I am talking about…they happen every day, all day. Take
waiting, for instance. I despise waiting. My husband always gets everywhere
early and is never, ever just on time or late.
Waiting is a big part of my life.
You too? The
doctor always over-schedules his appointments and we rarely if ever get to see
him/her on time. Grocery lines, backed-up traffic, hospital surgery waiting
rooms, meetings to start, counseling appointments to show up, our prayer to be
answered, scheduled deliveries, etc. often make us wait.
I
used to give-in to impatience, and fuss and fume inside; however, our Father
God showed me a secret. Rather than allowing the frustration of waiting to
overpower me…
I can lean into it and embrace it.
When
I feel impatience taking over my soul, I simply say, "Okay, I am going to
let patience have her perfecting work in me."
Then I relax. Leaning
into and embracing waiting is the same concept as leaning into the wind on a
stormy day.
If
we fight the occasion of waiting, we exhaust our self, like we do when we fight
the wind. If we simply lean into the wind, we find our balance and relax.
We
always have the choice to control our thoughts and change them from negative to
positive ones (Philippians 4:8). When we lean into the wait and allow patience
to have her perfecting work in us, we feel calm pour over us, and a deep breath
escapes our lungs as we relax.
Prayer:
Father
God, thank You for showing us that when we allow impatience to rule in our
life, it makes us grouchy, spoils our witness, and hurts other people
needlessly. The great fact about patience doing her perfect work in us is that
we also have more love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness,
self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22-23).
Teach
us to feel patience toward our foibles and idiosyncrasies, to accept other
people just the way they are and to love them with Your agape love, to find
Your joy in every situation as we trust only in You (James 1:2-3), and to enjoy
the journey as Your Holy Spirit gives us the mind and nature of Jesus to
replace our carnality. We can never thank You enough for Your love and grace.
Thought
for the Day:
When
we think life is finally manageable, trials strike and we tend to feel
overwhelmed; but if we lean into the trial and relax, we can look forward to being
whole, complete and in need of nothing as patience produces her enduring work
in us. - James 1:3-4
