Have you ever heard the saying “Patience is a virtue”?  Of course you have!  You probably heard it when you lost your patience and someone was reminding you that you needed more of it! 

The reason patience is a virtue is because it goes against the grain of our selfish human nature.  By nature, we “want what we want when we want it.” 

Sure, we may find it easier to be patient in some areas than in others, but no one that still has a pulse is naturally patient with everything and everyone!

For example, my students and coaching clients tell me they appreciate how patient I am.  My husband, however, would say otherwise—he’s been with me in traffic!  Something about sitting there going nowhere, due to other drivers who don’t seem to care if they get anywhere, tests me.

On the other hand, my husband has no problem sitting in traffic.  He says, “I live in my head and it gives me time to think!”  But he can’t stand arriving at the last minute to a meeting, much less late. So don’t even think about taking too long to get ready to go, if you want to keep him happy!

These are valid concerns.  It certainly isn’t right for others to hold us up, whether at home or in traffic.  Or for someone else to arrive late to a meeting, date, or event and make others wait for them.

Neither is it easy or enjoyable to wait for anything we’re wishing would happen or come sooner. Someone to “get it” and change.  Meeting our life-partner.  That career break. A much-needed vacation. Whatever it is we say “I can’t wait ‘til…”

But we CAN.  In fact, we have to, too often.  That’s why there’s “waiting rooms”—both physical and figurative.

So we have two choices—either wait patiently or impatiently.  None of us needs instruction on how to wait impatiently! 

But here’s some tips on how to develop patience—with delays and personal suffering:  (In Part 2, I will provide tips on how to be patient with other people.)

First—Gain a positive perspective on these negative situations. Choose to consider delays, suffering, and trials as an opportunity to develop spiritual maturity. 

“Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds… because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance…so that you may be mature and complete…” Jas.1:2-4

People pay good money on fitness-center memberships to develop their muscles by putting their bodies through “suffering and trials”.  Imagine what it can do for our attitude if we see things that test our patience as free spiritual-growth weight-training!

Second—“Do the next thing.” (Elisabeth Elliot) There’s never nothing we can do about it.  Ask the Lord what to do (wisdom) and for His power (ability) to do it, knowing He’ll give it to us (Jas. 1:5).

         Psalm 37:34 tells us: 

“Wait for (hope in) the Lord and keep His way; He will exalt you to inherit the land…”

In other words, do what He tells us to do while we’re waiting!  Pray, plan, be proactive.

Third—Wait with expectant hope in the Lord.  In Scripture, the words “wait” and “hope” are interchangeable when referring to our relationship with Him.  For example, Ps. 37:34, quoted above.  Or:

“Those who wait on/hope in the Lord will renew their strength…” Is.40:31

“Those who hope in/wait on Me will not be disappointed” Is. 49:23

This implies trust.  We base our expectant hope on TRUST.  If I’m at a train station, waiting for the next train, I wait a lot more patiently if I trust the local train system to be reliable and punctual.  If they’re not trustworthy, there’s cause for anxiety and impatience. 

Thankfully the Lord, who created the universe, never stops functioning well, and is always “on time”!

Even if things seem late in coming or changing for us, we can still trust the Lord, who tells us, “I’ve got this.”—because He is both all-powerful and all-good.

Please wait for more tips in Part 2 on how to be patient—with people.  Like me, who’s making you wait a week for Part 2 🙂