Impatience

Patience is something we all struggle with. It is an irritation with anything that causes delay. A restless desire for change and excitement. When you are impatient, it causes you to feel agitated, irritated, angry, rushed, and many other things. For me, driving puts my patience to the test more than anything. Nothing gets me more flustered. I feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it.

When we are running low on patience, we need to think of the following things:

• Do you exaggerate the importance of what you are doing?
  
• Do you see others as a help or a hindrance? Do you push and shove others out of the way?
  
• Why must everything get done right now?
  
• What’s the hurry? Why rush from one thing to the next?
  
• What are you afraid of? What will happen if you don’t rush through something?
  

The lack of patience usually comes when you are short on time. This means that we haven’t managed our time. For me, procrastination generally causes my impatience. Usually I put off doing something I have to do for something I want to do. A good example is going to get groceries. Once I get out of the house and get into town I see all the other places I’d like to go. Of course I do those first because my cold stuff will go bad if it sits in the car too long. I go window shopping and stall around until I hit the lunch rush at the grocery store. Then I turn into a NASCAR racer with a cart because everyone is in MY way. I was the one who procrastinated and could have beat the rush. It’s my fault that I have to wait in a long line to check out. Normally when this happens, the minute I get home I realize that I forgot the main ingredient for supper that night. Bill O’Reilly said “We Americans are an impatient people.” We have gotten used to fast food, fast forwarding, and fast passes. Waiting seems like an inconvenience. We are all about self-gratification and that’s usually instant gratification. Impulses. We don’t wait for things. We want them NOW so we get them NOW.

Patience is given in Galatians 5:22 as one of the fruits of the spirit. A different word is used though. The word is longsuffering. The two words are used interchangeably in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. When we get impatient with the things that deal with God and His word, we get impatient with prayer, church situations, people, and answers.

The book of James gives some great insight to what it means to be patient. James 1:3-4 “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 5:7-8 says “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:10-11 says “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

Verses 7 and 8 of James chapter 5 is one of the best examples of patience. It describes what a farmer has to go through during the process of planting and harvesting. The early and latter rains mentioned are the rains that came at the beginning of the growing season which for them was in October-November, and the rain that came at the end of the growing season which was March-April. The rain in the beginning helped the seed to get started and the rain at the end gave the plants the boost to be in the best condition for harvest. Contrary to what most believe, a seed doesn’t need to be saturated with water in the beginning. If it does, it will never develop the strength in its roots to remain strong on its own. It needs a dry spell in order to learn to stand on its own. We can use this as a picture of our own lives. If we are the seed, we need periods of dry spells in order to make it through life. These are our periods in which patience is required.

The process of planting is illustrated several times in the Bible. Here are the ingredients required to grow a plant and what they represent spiritually:

• Seeds: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." - Galatians 6:7. In our lives, we sow our seeds. Where we put them and how we tend to them is up to us. 
• Soil: "And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." - Matthew 13:3-8. There are many places that you can put your seed, but it will only flourish and grow in one soil type. That soil is the good ground that produces much fruit.
• Sun: "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1:4-5. Christ is our light. Plants can't grow in the dark. Even shady places have moments where the sun passes through. 
• Water: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:14. Water is necessary for all living things to survive. Christ offers a water that will never run out, a well that will never run dry, and always quenches the thirst. 
• Sprouts: "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Isaiah 61:11. We all need to start somewhere. The start of a plant is a sprout, or bud. The Holy Spirit can cause all kinds of feelings and emotions to sprout up within us. It gives us the push that we need in order to begin our work for the Lord in our lives. Sometimes the hardest part is breaking through the ground.
• The Plant: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." I Corinthians 3:6-9. No matter what we do in this life, we are not to take credit for it. God should receive all of the glory for anything accomplished in our lives. It takes patience, and patience will put our faith to the test. If you blow under pressure and lose your patience, you can also lose your testimony. 

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