Patience ?!#@

Many of us think of patience as a four letter word. Just the other night, I was meeting with my prayer/accountability group and telling them about a frustrating situation at work. In the midst of my venting, I specifically told them NOT to pray for me to have patience because I didn't want things to get any worse. I can't tell you how many times I have heard other Christians make similar remarks.

Patience is a characteristic we are commanded to embody as Christians. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:12 (NLT), "You MUST clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Many times Christians "clothe" themselves in a t-shirt of patience that is about 5 sizes to small. So it cuts off our circulation and causes us to squirm about in sheer discomfort.

Admittedly, I am one of the last people you will hear praying for patience. But I believe that binding t-shirt we now wear will become larger and more comfortable the more we experience and grow our patience. Each encounter we have only adds stitches to that t-shirt, thus enabling us to breathe a little deeper and move about with a little more freedom. Before long, patience will fit us. We will no longer feel bound and suffocated by it.

Paul goes on to say in verse 13 that we must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. He also reminds us that God forgave us, so we must forgive others. Other people are so often the root of my impatience, although not always. Whether I am in traffic, in the grocery store or even trying to get down the aisle at church - people always seem to be in my way. Sometimes I feel like that guy on the heartburn commercial that talks about how he likes everything so fast. I watch that commercial with a scoffing huff and think, "Humph, that is so ridiculous." How many people have I seen right through in my efforts to simply get around them? How many times have I switched lines at the grocery store, then kept watch on my previous spot in an adjacent line to make sure I made the right move? How ridiculous!!

Tonight as I was logging on to my computer, I even noticed how impatient I am. I was typing in user names, passwords and links before the screens were fully loaded. Of course, by the time the page loaded, only half of what I had typed was retained. So I had to go back and start over. How many times have I gotten ahead of God, tried to rush things only to look back and see that only half of my efforts stuck and had to go back and start over anyway?

How many opportunities to learn, grow and serve do we miss each day because we are consumed with the speed of life. Impatience shouts in our ears so loudly that we cannot hear the important things. If you read Colossians 3 starting in verse 12 through the end of the chapter, it almost sounds like a Stepford existence. Like everyone skips everywhere they go, wears daisies in their hair and speaks in a trance-like voice. We all know that's not true. It's not the idea or point of the passage. But we have moved so far from a peaceful, calm, encouraging, servanthood society that it almost seems fictitious to us, hard to imagine.

Slowing down is certainly something I need to work on. It is something as equally hard for me to do. I am convicted that I cannot live a life of gentleness, peace, love, kindness, mercy and harmony until I first slow down, embrace the clothing of patience, and take the time to actually see the people around me as spiritual beings created by God to be loved, accepted and served.