It’s one of those words we throw around. We know the general idea of it yet it seems none of us have a true grasp on it- patience.
Patience is 'the ability of willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay' according to dictionary.com. In my generation, it’s a rare characteristic. We have everything at a moment’s notice. Our phones can access anything at any time. We have fast food and fast cars, fast relationships and a ‘fast’ amount of time with God. We want it now and aren't willing to wait for it. We spend 10 minutes reading the Bible or do a quick prayer before we eat and say ‘oh yeah I spent time with God today’. And it’s every day this is happening with a rare occasion that we sit down for 30 minutes and actually dig into His word.
But He so doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want to be the thing we spend the least time with. Let’s be super transparent for a moment- if you’re reading this, you were probably scrolling down Facebook or Instagram and decided to click on the link. You’ll finish reading this then go back to scrolling, watching more videos and reading individual’s statuses that you kind of knew in high school but you stay friends with them just because. You’ll spend another 5 minutes which will turn into 10 which will turn into 20. Or you’ll watch 4 or 5 episodes of your favorite TV show, justifying it with 'just one more'. But what if, instead of spending so much time on things that really don’t improve or add to our lives, we spent it with God? I see so many people of my generation complaining that they’re so busy and they never get time with God yet they will spend hours playing video games, watching TV or scrolling through a social media. It’s ridiculous. And I am totally part of that crowd.
I, slowly but surely, am working on spending less time on social media and more time with God. I’m learning to be patient- to sit down and read the Bible or a book someone wrote about God. Reading isn’t instant- you can look at one hundred words and get the summary of the Bible or learn every piece of wisdom God has for you. You have to go slow. You have to be patient, and you need to ask God to speak to you through His word. It can feel monotonous at first, even to one who LOVES to read like myself. But once I sit down and concentrate it’s worth the effort and persistence. God has so much wisdom, love and joy to give you yet we try to fill our time and our self-esteem with things so empty such as likes, shares, favorites, and statuses.
Patience with God’s word will help you grow into someone you’d never imagine you could be- the person who God intended you to be. And even with that, you have to be patient with his timing. We want to be that person now, we want to graduate now, we want to be married now, have the big job now, be rich now or even be older than we are NOW. We become impatient with God's timing, the effort we're willing to put in and eventually become impatient and unhappy with our lives. So try patience- it's a fruit of the spirit for a reason.
