Fruit - PATIENCE

Patience - the ability to accept delay or trouble without getting upset or angry. My study Bible tells me that patience is the ability to accept injuries inflicted by others and the willingness to accept irritating or painful situations. Oh wow....this is a big one for me. I must say I have got better in this area as I get older and closer to God, but I also feel the only way to learn patience is to be put in inpatient situations. And think of this, most of the inpatient situations we get into isn't by choice. We end up in them, "just because".

Standing in line at the grocery store with screaming kids while the person in front of you has a ton of coupons and 2 carts of stuff........waiting for the doctor to call you into the exam room........waiting to buy a coffee while the person in front of you buys a paychecks worth of lottery tickets........having better things to do than sit in traffic during construction zones......praying for answers and not getting them.

None of these things are planned. We expect to go to the grocery store and get what we need and get out of there before the kids get rowdy......we expect to be called into the exam room first with no wait, just because we have an appointment.....we (I) want my coffee more than lottery tickets.....wanting to get to our destination in a timely manner with no delays..... we think because we have a God who listens, He will grant us all our prayers, NOW.  All these things are examples of how we build our patience, and most of them involve waiting. I think that is why we struggle with patience. We don't want or feel we should have to wait for anything. We live in a instant world where we can get things quick so when it doesn't happen that way, we get frustrated.

I spend more hours at my job than anywhere else. My job is a great place to build my patience. People are inpatient all the time. I get yelled at, cussed at, blessed, thanked, and hugged all in a days time. When people don't feel good, they are inpatient. We all at times feel a sense of entitlement. We feel just because we are sick and afflicted that we are important and need attention before anyone else. This as we all know is not how the world works, unless it's a life or death situation, so patience is needed.....tremendously.

 Looking back to the definition of patience and the ability to accept irritating or painful situations......this is difficult to comprehend. The idea of accepting painful or irritating situations? Accepting them? Well, the list of the fruits in Galatians are commands for us to live a godly life. These attributes we receive with the Holy Spirit's dwelling in us. We won't ever have patience in this way without Him. That is why patience is one way we can spot a Christian who has been changed by Jesus. People that have patience in this way love the Lord and want to please Him and this type of patience won't be built without being in inpatient situations. So....next time you need to wait for something or someone longer than you want to, remember that maybe this is one of God's ways to build patience in you. I will remember this as well.  :)