I'll huff, and I'll puff and I'll... Wait?

In a recent devotion I was doing it defined patience as [I'm paraphrasing here] being calm in the midst of stressful situations. Showing empathy towards others when they don’t do things the way that you want them to. And not being easily annoyed when plans change, plans that won’t even matter down the line. Then at the end of that day’s devotion it asked how did the definition of patience encourage or challenge you? My answer... everything that was listed as the opposite of what patience was, well it is everything that I exhibit on a daily basis.

I read somewhere that it’s not the act of waiting that we should be concerned about, but it’s how we wait that matters. In John 11 Jesus’ friend Lazarus dies while he is away. Word was sent by Mary and Martha to Jesus about the sickness of their brother. Three days had come and gone, and on the fourth day Jesus made his way to the grave of Lazarus to bring him back to life. Before doing so when he first arrived in Judea only one of the sisters greeted him. Martha greeted him full of faith trusting that Jesus would make it all better. Mary, on the other hand, didn’t even come out to see Jesus. Can you imagine that?! Jesus shows up at your place and you won’t even come out the door and say “Hey Lord, how you been?”. THAT just blows my mind lol. The way I see it, Mary allowed her anger to keep her inside the house because while waiting on Jesus she let her impatience get the best of her. I think we all can relate to that, am I right?

That devotion I mentioned earlier also said that patient people are not easily annoyed or agitated and they don’t show intolerance towards others. I’ll tell you what this girl here [ME!] has some work to do! I remember growing up hearing my dad tell me that I had no patience, and he was right. Now, that lack of patience manifests itself in my adult life. I don’t like waiting on people and I want things done when I want them done. I mean I could be the walking billboard for impatience ok?! Lol. So when my husband takes his time to answer me (after I’ve called him five times) I’m annoyed. Or when the little one takes a zillion years to put her shoes on (because independence is a big deal these days) I am irritated. Forget the fact that maybe my husband didn't hear me, or that baby girl is learning and needs those extra minutes to get her shoes on. My impatient clouds my judgement and often times makes me angry. Just like our sister girl Mary.

The same can be said about our walk with the Christ. When He's walking at a slower pace than us we get irritated. When He doesn't move as quickly as we would like we get fed up, quickly. So my encouragement for you today is to evaluate your patience level. Are you waiting on the Lord for something? What does your waiting look like? Are you lacking in this particular fruit of the spirit [patince]? If so don't worry you're not alone. Let's work on it together and be better. No huffing,or puffing. Just patiently waiting. Comment below "Lets do this!" so I know you're with me.

Be Blessed!

#womanofGod #christianblogger #mugs #patience #fruitofthespirit