A Little Patience

Oh, how I wish patience would hurry up an get here. Patience is very misleading. It appears to be something easily attained, but that is not the case for me. I have struggled with idea of not doing it "right now" all my life. "It" can be anything; personal, proffesional, and even spiritual. I sometimes wonder why patience is hard for me? Am I allergic? Perhaps patience is not in my blood. I have many memories of family members who would weather jump off a cliff then wait for five minutes. So, who can I look to for inspiration. Who can show me how to be patient? God is by far the best example. In Exodus 34:6 we see that God is slow to anger. At first this does not seem to be big deal. But, when we look at the Old Testament we see how God displayed this over and over with the Jews. They turned their backs on God many times (Exodus 32), but yet he showed them mercy. If I had infinite power, lets just say there would be quite a few waitors, cashiers, and customer service reps who would have been zapped. Even today we can all be grateful that God has patience for sinners (Romans 2:4).
So why do I need to be patient? I Romans 5:3-5 God gives us a few reasons. Patience (endurance) produces proven charater and proven character produces hope. Patience helps to build our character and to make us more Christ like. I also have to remember that being patient is not the same as sitting around doing nothing. Patience is active endurance of opposition, not a passive resignation (Warren McWilliams). Remembering that patience is productive, will help me to not be so against it. It also helps me to remember how many times God has been patient with me. Even though I continue to fail and mess up he never looses patience with me.