Patience

My wife shared a post with me this morning.  I listened as she read some lines to me and digested it a little bit.

I'm now at the office and took a moment to read it for myself.

It's good.
Here it is...

Love is Patient.
I am often impatient with others.
Sometimes it is to the point of being filled with pride over my ability to be more timely, quicker and a better multi-tasker--listen, I'm a guy who multi tasks even while brushing his teeth. 

But even if I can do all kinds of things and I don't have love I am just a resounding gong, Paul says.
And if I do not love I am certainly not being patient.

The blog Sarah shared includes great words on being patient with others.  
For us, it is being tested even as I write.  Our son, who is amazing, left the deep freeze door open just a smidge last night.  Even after repeated reminders to be sure the door was closed, the door was not closed.  Sarah is currently wiping it down and assessing the damage---all the meat seems frozen still, thankfully.

So I've been thinking, does my impatience with others indicate an impatience I have with myself? 

• I'm 37, shouldn't I have more of my life figured out?
• I've been in full time ministry for 11 years now, shouldn't I be better at it than this?
• I've been a Christian for lots of years and grew up in a Christian home, shouldn't I be able to find the book of Hezekiah quicker?

Am I alone here?  Doubtful.
I wonder if I mask my impatience with myself through being impatient with others--demanding that they fill in the gaps of my own personal impatience.

Henri Nouwen suggests that  “[t]he word patience means willingness to stay where we are and live out the situation to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.”

Love is Patient.
With others and with self.