I do not know about you, but this holiday season has been full of stresses and struggles for me. From an endless amount of deadlines to random circumstances that add to the mountain of stress, 2016 just cannot seem to end soon enough. In a season of unanswered questions and a significant amount of uncertainty, patience has been a scarce yet necessary virtue.

John 21 describes when Jesus' disciples are fishing. After they fish all night and catch nothing, Jesus says in John 21:6;

“Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

All it took was waiting for Jesus to show up and following his guidance for them to find an abundance of what they were looking for. Patience; eight letters, two syllables, one word, yet such a difficult concept. It is entirely simple to talk about being patient and to encourage our friends and family to be patient during strenuous times when we are not catching the fish we ought to be; however, it is entirely diverse to actually practice patience. Let us consider what patience actually means.

Patience

/ˈpāSHəns/

noun

Definition: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

The fact of the matter is that we are used to being instantly gratified. We have become accustomed to seeing the fruits of our labor almost immediately that when we do not obtain the desired outcome, we become impatient and unappreciative.

Do you have the capacity to accept or at least tolerate delays in your life until Jesus gives you your "right side of the boat" moment? Can you bring yourself to calm the anger and frustrations that arise when you are tempted to become bitter about not seeing results immediately?

If we humbly wait for what we are looking for in life, we will surely find it an abundance. So stay patient my friends, for our large number of fish are just around the corner.