Patience And The Power of YET

Welcome, friends! Happy Sunday! I hope that you've rested, spent time with family and gathered together with other believers today. This week is our 4th week in our closer look at the Fruit of the Spirit. Before I begin, let me tell you that the Lord allowed me to be tested on the peace that I blogged about last week. I so cheerily hit the post button last Sunday night feeling calm, cool and collected. Then came Monday. Monday tested my peace like no other day I've had in a very long time. Thank goodness the rest of the week eased up a bit but Monday proved to me that if I'm going to have the guts to put it out there (even on a blog), I better have the guts to back up my talk with some action. I also proved to myself that the peace of Christ does live in me and I'm never alone.

So on to this week's fruit! Patience. For the first time in my entire life I practiced patience by being really "patient" in researching our topic this week. Ok. So I procrastinated. I'll be the first to admit, I struggle with being patient. I can't really remember a time in my life when I've been exceptionally patient. One reason may be because I grew up as an only child. I never had to wait until someone else was finished playing with a toy or finished watching their show or even finished talking to my parents before I got my turn. Another reason may be because I'm just a human.

Humans, in general, are impatient. We want what we want and we want it now. Technology hasn't helped humanity in the area of developing patience one bit. Everything is convenient and at our finger tips. I sometimes pine for the days I never even got to experience, when life was lived at a slower pace and people were generally patient with one another.

One of the things I've noticed that just shocks the mess out of some people is when I've been waiting for a long time on my food in a drive through, or in a line at a store and I finally get to the front and flash a big genuine smile at the worker. It really blows them away if you make easy going conversation with them or even give them a compliment or ask them about their day. I challenge you to try it next time you want to scream at the sloth working behind the counter. Your patience may be exactly what they need to get through their shift.

Joyce Meyer, a well known evangelist, says, "Patience is not the ability to wait but how you act while you're waiting." This is so true. Everyone can wait. Waiting is inevitable; a part of life. But not everyone can wait well.

Waiting well is where the power of "yet" comes into play. Here, let me explain. I'm not a very good dancer. My husband is the best dancer. He loves to dance. He's passed on his moves to our two children while I've sat back during their nightly dance parties watching, smiling and wishing I was out there with them. I know this is something they love to do and I want to take part. So I've been making an effort to participate a little more often. Am I going to turn into a marvelous moon-walker, or a dynamite dub-stepper over night? No! But I'm working on it! So I can say, "I'm not a very good dancer, YET!"

The dancing example may not have been the best but in any area where you have a deficit, you have the power of yet. Like myself, you may not be the most patient person but if you begin working on it, you can say, "I'm not a patient person, yet." And then someday, when you've worked hard and you'll just know by the progress you've made, you can drop the "not" and the "yet".

I could go on and give you ideas on how you can become a more patient person but I'm going to go ahead and close out this post by leaving you this graphic. On it you'll find the definition I use when teaching my kindergartners about patience. It's the clearest and most concise definition I've heard and I find myself repeating it to myself often. Have a great week!