I would like to be patient and I want it NOW!
How do I grow in patience?
Everything around me rushes past and it’s hard not to be swept along.
Do you long to stay calm under stress? To take your time when there seems little of it?
To trust God’s timing, yet find yourself worrying?
You ask yourself: How do I become a more patient person?
I have discovered that almost everything I struggle with boils down to my own impatience. And so, I am determined to grow in patience, no matter how long it takes!
The key:
To have a goal but not to be concerned with when it will be achieved is a key to patience.
I have observed my son, and have discovered that almost every time he gets upset it is because he is impatient with himself… or he’s felt my impatience with him.
The single thing that causes difficulty in my life is my own impatience.
How do I become more patient?
Ready: I see the goal and I ask to achieve it.
Set: I consider the consequences of my own impatience, remembering key situations in the past, and choosing to surrender this weakness to God.
Go: I remember the joy I feel when the family is in harmony, versus the discomfort, distress and disappointment when we are not.
- I recognize most problems are rooted in impatience and
- I determine to be patient instead of being impatient with others.
- I pray, surrendering to God, asking for the fruit of patience.
- I recognize it is a gift and not something I can ‘work up’ on my own.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”(Galatians 5:22-23)