Have Patience

Have Patience

If we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.

Romans 8:25

Patience isn’t just something the Amish believe. It is part of their life that comes from a deep-seated conviction. When it comes to the Amish, what they believe is what they practice. And what they practice is held close with deep affection. Their spirituality is not tacked on to their lives; neither is their patience. It’s a thread woven within the very fabric of their community, even among young children.

“The church service is an incubator of patience, a patience rarely seen in most young children,” we read in The Amish Way. “Amish boys and girls, who can be noisy and rambunctious at play, learn this discipline at an early age. Taught and caught from infancy, patience shapes the character and spiritual disposition of Amish people, becoming the social reality they take for granted.”

Reading these words makes me consider whether I make it possible for patience to be “caught and taught” in my home. When a checker at the grocery store is slow, many times I’m impatient. Even if I don’t say it, my body language makes it clear. And what does that say about me? That I feel as if I’m better than the clerk? That he or she is wasting my time?

Those words also make me consider my day at home. Am I patient with my children? Do I understand that everything takes them longer because they are still growing and learning? Am I patient with my finances, waiting until I can afford to buy something, or do I buy more than I can afford? And what about God’s work in my life? Do I try to run ahead of Him to make things happen in my own timing?

The joy of spring is looking forward to the growth to come. The joy of our salvation is waiting patiently and confidently for eternity with God. But we can embrace the same type of joy in everyday life, living in expectation instead of striving to have everything now—and teaching our children to do the same.

Dear heavenly Father, forgive me for feeling that my time is more valuable than someone else’s. Help me give my time to living patiently and to modeling it for others.