Sowing Seeds of Patience
Growing Your Spiritual Garden Part IV
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22
Waiting is never an easy task, yet we seem to spend much of our time waiting. When we are young, we can not wait until we are grown. When we start school, we can not wait until we graduate. When we are ill, we can not wait to be well once more. The list continues.
In today's culture of instant gratification, waiting is not an option. It seems as if everything is geared to cut out the waiting process. However, advancements of this nature have not helped us to cope with long periods of waiting. Instead, the desire for instant gratification leads to irritability, frustration, and hyperactivity. For example, visit a store that does not have a modern point of sale system and observe the interaction of people as they wait in line. As the line becomes longer and the wait time increases, people will become noticeably irritable and frustrated.
Our highways have also become breeding grounds for frustrated drivers that can not seem to wait for red lights and slow moving vehicles. It as if our society seems to be in a hurry to go nowhere fast. Obscene gestures and vulgar expletives have replaced bright smiles and friendly gestures.
One of the most valuable lessons to learn in life is that waiting is inevitable. At some point in our lifetime, we will all have to wait for something. How we react to this period of waiting will seriously affect our lives and the lives of others. Having patience requires us to accept the fact that there is a reason why we must wait for certain things. It is not good for us to receive everything that we want when we want it. If our wants and wishes were fulfilled at our every command, we would not appreciate the valuable lessons that are found during the waiting process.
However, patience must be cultivated. At heart, we are impatient and insatiable beings. We live for gratification. When we display behavior that resembles the behavior of a spoiled child, it is obvious that we have little spiritual maturity. It is for this reason that patience is a spiritual fruit. When we sow the seeds of patience in our spiritual garden, we will soon notice a change in our entire demeanor. We will learn to accept the present moment and to understand the true blessing that comes when we receive something that we have been waiting to receive.
When we sow seeds of patience in our personal spiritual garden, these seeds will spill over into the spiritual gardens of others. Patience is a flower that often spreads like the flower they call the morning glory bringing peace and tranquility to every spot of land.
I encourage you to think about the seeds of patience the next time that you encounter a period of waiting. Be mindful of your reaction to the wait and ask yourself if you are sowing seeds of patience or sowing seeds of frustration.
