Patience is a virtue. It is also one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). And it's something that I really need to work on. As I grow older, I find that my patience level is diminishing and that's not a good sign. The King James version states patience as long suffering and that has caused me to ponder anew the extent of being patient. Patience means that we have to suffer and suffer long too! Wow!
I lost my patience with my daughter twice in just 2 weeks. She's at a stage where she likes to dilly dally when getting things done. Morning is not my best time of the day (and I think it's not hers too!) and it is when my patience level is close to zero. So any dilly dallying at this time of day really gets on my nerves. And the counting to ten before shouting really doesn't work when said daughter doesn't get moving after ten. So now, I'm learning to resort to prayer and getting up earlier so that the dilly dallying can be factored in. One small step at a time as I learn to be patient.
It's also just struck me that of the nine fruits of the Spirit, love is the underlying factor if we want to be able to exercise these fruits. If we love, then we can be kind, gentle, faithful, patient, good and self-controlled and we can attain joy and peace! Well, in my opinion that is what it means. So, then I must first learn to really love. Not just the superficial kind of love but to love with an everlasting love, as Jesus loved, because it will see us through the obstacles life throws at us.
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