Day 324 Squished Buns

It should have been easier. I was at the supermarket. I was in the ten items or less express lane. I was in a hurry. I had two items. The guy in front of me had sixteen items. Sixteen. This included my counting the bunch of bananas as one item, not seven. Then the guy takes out his checkbook. Isn’t this the 21st Century? He hasn't heard of debit cards? By the time it was my turn to check out, my mood matched the now squashed hotdog buns I was holding. I'm not such a patient person.

We all have things that trigger our impatience. For you it’s traffic. For me, it's being late. Or maybe it's your mother. (Couldn't be!) What is it that fuels impatience in our lives? I think there are three big enemies of patience.

1. Overload. We try to cram too much stuff into our schedules and this results in a lifestyle that has no margin. It leaves no breathing room. So when we find ourselves running behind, it breeds impatience. When you live a life with no margin, any little mismanagement or unforeseen circumstance can result in losing your patience.

2. Unrealistic Expectations. Many of us place high expectations on those closest to us. Usually these are our family, friends, and the people closest to us. And when they don’t live up to our expectations, we get impatient. The truth is that people can't possibly live up to every expectation (many of them unspoken) we have. People aren’t perfect, and sooner or later they won’t live up to what we expect.

3. Pride. Sometimes impatience rears its ugly head when our pride is challenged. When we unrealistically or selfishly think we deserve better treatment than we get, our impatience blows out.

I wish there were some easy ways to eliminate the enemies to patience, but these are issues that most people wrestle with throughout their lives. I do.

The bottom line is that we need to keep on pursuing the reign of God’s kingdom in our lives. When we do, we begin to see new options for how we can respond. We don’t have to walk hand-in-hand with the enemies of patience.

Each day we face choices where we either embrace the enemies of patience or embrace God’s kingdom. As we seek His kingdom, patience grows. Our patience changes us, and it changes others as well. Lt God reign in you more today and grow the fruit of the Spirit, patience.