The Fruit of the Spirit Patience - Galatians 5:22-23 - Part 4

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT - PATIENCE

The world is filled with impatient people. It seems everyone is in a hurry. They have places to go, people to see, and things to do. It is time to declare war on the spirit of "hurry up." We say it to our friends, children, spouses, and people on the road on our way to work or school.

The definition of patience - the ability to wait and how I act while I am waiting. An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.

Here are a few areas to be patient: 

• Be patient with people's different opinions.
• Be patient with people's personalities. We all have people in our lives who have personalities that are hard for us to handle.
• Be patient when someone tells you a story for the third time.
• Be patient when someone wants to tell you every minor detail of a story that you're not even interested in hearing.
• Be patient when people interrupt you when you don't want to be interrupted.
• Be patient when someone takes a parking space you've been waiting for.

I have to admit the fruit of the spirit patience is the one I work on the most. I was raised in a small town so traffic and lots of people were never a problem. The day came when our family moved to New York and I was tested in my patience. Traffic jams were the norm. Everywhere we went there were lines of people. I told my husband I even had bumper to bumper traffic in the grocery store as there were people everywhere with their shopping cart! I couldn't escape long lines. I believe that was a training ground for me that year as I began to look around more, enjoy chats with people in the line behind me, and learning to slow down and smell the roses.