Waiting...for someting I want NOW!

Patience is a virtue.

And a virtue is, according to Webster’s, general moral excellence.

 

Well, I would like to make it known that I am not a very patient person.  I am not a good ‘waiter’.  When I want to know something, I want to know NOW!!  I Google everything I don’t know NOW!  Just ask my co-workers—It’s true!  Like when we were buying our house last fall.  There were so many ups and downs and maybe this and maybe that’s, that I thought I was going to go insane!

Now I am waiting again.  I have taken all the steps I need to take, so I am waiting for someone else to tell me what I need to hear.  And I can’t stand it!  I want to know NOW!!!

Lack of patience must be hereditary.  I suffer from this and so does my husband.  So do our children.

Our 2-year-old wants her apple juice NOW!  Our 7-year-old wants his turn on the computer NOW!  Our 10-year-old wants me to drop everything and listen to her NOW!  Our 11-year-old wants dad to come outside and play ball NOW!  Our 14-year-old wants everyone to shut up and leave her alone NOW!  Our 17-year-old wants to be an adult NOW!

Because my husband and I are not patient, it’s likely our kids have learned their NOW behavior from us, but it’s also prevalent in society.  Just look at cell phones.  When I first got one in 1996, (and yes, it was as big as my head) I supposedly got it, you know, in case my car broke down or I needed to order a pizza on my way home.  Now, my cell phone is never far away.  It’s there so I can always be accessible to everyone NOW, check my email NOW, check the weather forecast NOW, check Facebook NOW, play Words With Friends NOW, text anyone for anything NOW, and whatever else NOW.

We have become a NOW society.

“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:25)

Ah.  Yes.  Being impatient isn’t going to get you through the checkout line quicker.  It’s not going to make the phone ring faster.  Impatience isn’t going to fill my daughters cup with juice any faster than I can move from here to the kitchen.  Not that I expect a 2-year-old to understand that-YET.  But if we model patience for her instead of impatience, she will learn. 

 

And I am reminded, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  I can’t tell you how many times this verse (Psalm 46:10) has whispered across my heart.   

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” (Psalm 37:7)

It’s all in His hands anyway.  It will happen on His terms, in His time frame.  And He calls us to be patient for him.  NOW is not the way the Lord works.  Just our cell phone.

So, here I sit.  Patiently waiting for whatever it is I’m waiting for.  Guess I could go fill that juice cup…and then check my email again.