Patience

A while back, my nine-year-old son spent some time studying up on his astrological sign.  He came away from his research telling me that he knew he was a Taurus (he is) because they are known for being very patient (he is not).   Since that time, I've chided him a bit about how he needs to use that patience he was given as a Taurus, like when he's grumbling about waiting in a line (any line),  or when he's reluctantly attending an activity of his sibling's, or well, let's face it, when we're getting ready for church.  The list goes on and on of things that he doesn't have patience for, but since he read that he has patience, he thinks he does.  Or does he?  The other evening we were eating out for dinner and waiting for our food to arrive (grumble, grumble from said nine-year-old), and once again, I asked him to order up some of that patience that Tauruses like him are so well known for.  He knew I was teasing him, so he argued back, with a disgusted sigh, "Huhhhhhh, I KNOW, Mom, but I never said I had good TOTAL patience.  I just have good TEMPORARY patience."


I had to laugh at the irony of his statement, but then I got to thinking,  how do we measure patience?  I guess I don't always know when some one's patience has been tried and tested and when it hasn't.  Maybe for some of us it's a lot more of a struggle than for others.  Certainly between my husband and I, I would have to say he has more patience...most of the time.  But it depends on the situation, too.   I am far more patient with listening to the kids' musical (off-key) practices, and  their sibling banter, but I am far less patient when it comes to helping them with their math or science homework.  In fact, I 've been known to sound more juvenile than them in my whining, "What do they mean multiply the sum of the two integers?  Which two integers???"


Regardless of the situation, though, it seems that only God and us can know just when our patience has been tried and tested.  And, (unfortunately for us), only God knows when it's been tested enough.  It seems to me, though that the best way for us to keep a pulse on this is through prayer, don't you think? In a world where we are so used to getting-what-we-want-when-we-want-it:  instant movies on TV, instant food at a drive-up window, instant money at a drive-through bank machine, instant temperature control touch of a button, all makes us  think that if we aren't getting-what-we-want-when-we-want-it that something must be broken. 
A broken part may be the case if you're not getting-what-you-want-when-you-want-it in many of the previous examples,  but not when it comes to prayer!  Prayer is never broken!  Our thoughts and words in prayer never go to waste.  They will be answered.  As I've seen it written on inspirational wall art before:  sometimes the answer is "yes," sometimes the answer is "no," and sometimes the answer is "not now."  Answers to our prayers can take time.  Still, I often need to be reminded of this little fact from time to time.  Especially when it seems like I've been praying on the same thing forever.    And I've run out of patience  (even TOTAL patience).  So, what to do?


For starters, I find it helpful when I feel myself growing impatient during prayer to remember some activities that are still very rewarding even though they take time to reap the rewards:  going fishing, gardening, raising kids, growing a baby, saving money for a big purchase item like a vacation or a vehicle (or maybe a house!).  These are things where, during the process,  we are molded and shaped along the  way as well.  It's easier to see in these instances once the reward comes that all the work and time and effort we put into making any of these things happen did not go to waste.  We need to think of prayer the same way, and try to keep this perspective!

After all, since God gives each of us his TOTAL love, it seems only fair we give him our TOTAL patience...even if it means an occasional grumble along the way.