Whenever I am being impatient and the person I am with yells at me saying, "patience is a virtue!" I usually reply with a nonchalant, "Yeah, a virtue I don't have." I would like to think I am a patient person, but if I am being honest, patience really is not a virtue I have.
Little things like waiting for class to start or waiting for Joshua, my boyfriend, to pick me up, do not bother me. The things that I get impatient with, more importantly the person I get impatient with, is God. I find myself sitting around waiting for God to do something big in my life, but I want that big something to be in my life at that moment. Big moments do not just appear out of thin air; they have to grow. God will only give you something big when He wants your life to have something that makes most people impatient and give up on God.
Proverbs 14:26 says, "Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly." (NIV)
This verse stood out to me because those who are patient with God will understand what God is doing in their life. Those who do not have patience will become angry and give up on the work God is trying to do for them. Being stressed about what is supposed to happen makes us worry that everything needs to happen right now. When we are grounded in our faith with God, we will not be worried about when something is supposed to happen because we will trust in God's timing and His plan for each and every person.
Patience and trust go hand in hand. When you trust God knows what He is doing then you are patient with God and what He is working on for you. However, we stumble in trusting God with everything. Yes, everything. We think that we can do it our own way and be fine, but I can tell you from personal experience that is simply not true. You think life is hard trusting God, but it is even harder when you are not trusting Him.
The important thing to remember is to not rush the plans God put in place for you. To do this you have to be totally devoted to God so that you can completely trust God. I am not saying that is easy, or ever will be easy, but it is worth slowing down your life and enjoying the blessings that life (and God) offers you in this moment.
