Patience

Occasionally the girls in my Sunday school class get together at someone's house during the week to eat and meet. I enjoy these intimate gatherings thoroughly because I always feel refreshed after leaving and of course the food! Everyone knows that southern girls can cook! Last night we met and were asked to choose one of the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) that we feel like we bear, want, or need to work on. I didn't really feel like I rocked out at bearing any of the fruits so I chose one that I felt I really needed to work on, patience. Being a farmer's wife, mother of two small children, and a teacher I thought that patience was a good start especially with school peering its ugly head around the corner. I greatly prefer when God instantly gratifies my prayers, rather than make me wait, but He doesn't always work that way. I'm always looking for a quick fix, but Philippians 1:6 says that God will be faithful to complete the good works He began in us. That implies there's going to be some "in the meantime" when we're all less than perfect and less than easy to love. This is where patience comes in. When I am getting impatient I try to think about all the prayers that God has answered for me and remind myself that they just weren't answered overnight.

Later that night I felt my patience was being tested. Thank God we were out of milk so that gave me the opportunity to take a drive to chill before I got the chance to bite someone's head off. Since everyone in my house is walking around with their head still attached, it must have helped. I am also thankful that I have husband whose fuse is a lot longer than mine, because I know that sometimes I'm not the easiest person to live with. I realize that that this patience-thing may take some time to develop, but I'm going to graciously endure the process. I just hope it doesn't take too long because there are a lot of other fruits that need my attention.