Turning Impatience Into Patience

We had just gotten in from the gym yesterday morning and it was time for me to start getting ready to start my work day. Lilly Faith was pacified playing with a chew toy on the floor and Will was busy playing with his train set. Gracie asked if she could watch "Curious George" on television. I clicked on the right channel and told everyone I was going to take a shower. While I was in the shower, Gracie came in to tell me that Lilly Faith had chewed on the tv remote and made it change channels. "I can't get Curious George back on tv." I yelled through the shower door which channel to punch into the remote. Gracie left, only to return. "But mom, I can't get Curious George back on!" After telling her once again which buttons to press, Gracie was getting frustrated with me because she wanted me to fix her problem right then. "Can't you just wait until I get out of the shower?" I asked. "I'll fix it then." She walked out of the bathroom and I had another minute of peace. I finished up, put my robe on, and heard a lady screaming bloody murder on the television. I walked into the living room and heard more screaming and looked at the television to see which channel Lilly Faith's chewing had made the tv had landed on---Discovery Health Channel. Gracie had landed on a show which was showing the joys of birthing a baby. "Sorry I got impatient, mom," Gracie said from the couch. "Since I couldn't find Curious George, I found something else to watch!"

Oh boy.

Sometimes, we want what we want, when we want it, exactly how we want it and we end up getting ourselves in trouble and can't have the patience to wait until God works it out for us.

When I think about patience, I think about Noah. At the end of Genesis 5 when Noah had his sons, he is 500 years old. It was at that point that God told him to build the ark. When the flood waters came, Noah was 600 years old. Do the math: it took roughly 100 years for Noah to build the ark, just as God told him to do. Do you think you would've run out of patience?

But look again. In Genesis 6 & 7, the Bible says something specific about Noah's diligence. Four times in those two chapters, it states, "Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him." That means even though Noah probably got tired of building the ark, putting up with the jeers from the townspeople, and waiting on God to make it rain, he stayed the course. He kept his faith, he trusted God had him doing this for a purpose. Instead of Noah throwing up his hands and saying, "You're crazy, God! I'm tired of waiting on you, so I'm just going to stop wasting my time and busting my knuckles on this #$?@ boat!", Noah trusted God's timing and didn't question it.

So the next time you think about taking things into your own hands because it isn't working out the way you wanted and you think God is dragging His heels, just remember..."impatient" can easily be turned into "I'm patient".