A New Way of Life – Patience

Some years back I was in the breakroom where I worked. A young man came in, retrieved his lunch from the fridge and put it in the microwave. As he stood there waiting the one minute, thirty seconds of cooking time he was tapping his fingers on the counter and muttering “hurry up already”. I found that very humorous; you see I’m from the age before microwaves, instant messaging and overnight shipping.

Yesterday I was taken back to that age, the age of slower living. I had packages to drop off at the local post office. When I arrived there was a line to the door. I knew from being there last week that only one clerk was working and the line spacing was every five feet. Had to have been at least ten people waiting and it would be at least thirty minutes. I left.

I also had business that needed the assistance of a personal banker at the local branch. I was met at the door and not allowed to enter the waiting area, although I had a mask on. Instead the bank employee retrieved an appointment page and gave me an appointment for Thursday at 11. I thanked the employee but to be perfectly honest I was miffed.

Life as usual has changed. I needed to be more patient. It wasn’t their fault; they were trying to abide by safety guidelines and I needed to understand that. Things are going to be this way for a while – it will be a slower pace, I need to be prepared to wait.

“A patient person is very smart. A quick-tempered person makes stupid mistakes. 30 Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer.” Proverbs 14:29-30 ERV

Once I got home I found I had to rearrange the rest of my week’s schedule because an appointment had to be rescheduled which caused me to make alternative arrangements with several other appointments. “Ok, Lord! I’m learning to be obedient to Your word. I won’t yell at the microwave and I won’t allow my words to be unkind. I will be patient.”

If you’ve had a day like this, I’m sorry. If you haven’t, you will. The staff and employees we are dealing with aren’t at fault. They need our understanding; they need our encouragement, a kind word and a smile. We are Jesus’ goodwill ambassadors!

“Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time.” Romans 12:12 ERV

My night ended with a smile. We received a Facetime call from our youngest daughter and her family. All three of our little grandchildren had “something to show you”. One is crawling, one had drawn a picture and one had a handful of markers and was telling us the colors. Mom and Dad were having family time and included Dave and I. The perfect ending to a long day.

Have a great day and remember to be patient!

“God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, 23 gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways.” Galatians 5:22-23 CEV

But Wait…

Patience and waiting have been the  theme of these morning devotional thoughts for the last couple weeks.

I think I do pretty well with waiting, unless I’m on hold and the music is bad. And I can be patient and understanding of the five people in front of me at the grocery store or the driver in traffic who is going too slow.

I grew less patient and didn’t like the wait when we had our house in Montana on the market to sell. It was for sale for seven years. Just not a buyer’s market. Our hearts were longing to be back in Arizona and all the doors seemed to be closed.

The Lord and I talked about this at length. He would encourage me and I would patiently wait for another six to nine months and then would go through it again. How about it? Can you relate?

I patiently waited, Lord, for you to hear my prayer. You listened and pulled me from a lonely pit full of mud and mire. You let me stand on a rock with my feet firm, and you gave me a new song, a song of praise to you. Many will see this, and they will honor and trust you, the Lord God.” Psalm 40:1-3 CEV

Each time I would begin to get frustrated with our lack of movement, the Lord would remind me of people in the Bible who had to wait. They were my examples; there was Noah who had to wait for God’s promise of rain, all the while building an Ark. Abraham waited 25 years for his son Isaac to be born, this was God’s promise.

This morning my thoughts went to waiting once again and the Lord reminded me of two wonderful people who had waited years to see the promised Messiah come to earth. These two were quite elderly before they saw God’s promised Son; they were Simeon and Anna.

There story was one of decades of waiting.

The Holy Spirit made it known to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen God’s Chosen One. 27 He came to the house of God being led by the Holy Spirit. The parents took Jesus to the house of God. They came to do what the Law said must be done. 28 Then Simeon took Jesus in his arms. He gave honor to Him and thanked God, saying,

29 “Lord, now let me die in peace, as You have said. 30 My eyes have seen the One Who will save men from the punishment of their sins. 31 You have made Him ready in the sight of all nations. 32 He will be a light to shine on the people who are not Jews. He will be the shining-greatness of Your people the Jews.” Luke 2:26-32 NLV

Simeon had been waiting years and now his life was complete, He had seen the Christ. He would die a happy man because God had been faithful to let him see the Messiah.

Also in the Temple that day was Anna, an old woman. 

 “Anna, a prophetess, was there at the Temple. She was from the family of Phanuel in the tribe of Asher. She was now very old. She had lived with her husband seven years 37 before he died and left her alone. She was now 84 years old. Anna was always at the Temple; she never left. She worshiped God by fasting and praying day and night.

38 Anna was there when Joseph and Mary came to the Temple. She praised God and talked about Jesus to all those who were waiting for God to free Jerusalem.” Luke 2:26-38 CEV

When we’re waiting longer than we would like let’s not complain about it.  Instead let’s thank God that He is faithful to His word and it will come to pass. When we can praise God during the waiting it puts our hearts at peace.

Today we are one day closer!