Most of us pray for patience very impatiently. Actually, impatience is one of those faults that people don’t mind bragging about. In a job interview, when people are asked about their faults, “impatience” is probably the most common answer. An impatient person is surely one who gets things done.
I think of my mom when she was Dad’s primary caregiver. He didn’t move very fast in his walker. One day, as they were getting from the car to church, Mom muttered to some friend on the sidewalk, “I pray and pray for patience.”
Overhearing her, lumbering slowly, Dad responded, “Well, that’s one prayer God hasn’t heard yet.”
The story still makes us all laugh.
A better example of praying for patience would be my friend Joe Caldwell. His mother was a truly patient woman. The family often wondered where such steadfastness came from. Upon her death Joe discovered her prayer book. The page that was worn the most was one titled “A Prayer for Patience.”
I don’t think it’s an accident that when we’re sick we’re called patients. We’re being asked to be patient, especially those of us who don’t like to wait for anything.
But isn’t it worth remembering that answers to prayer, the really best answers, come after we’ve prayed for a long time, after we’ve learned to be patient? Perhaps that’s the best answer of all. Patience itself.
My prayer is that I can ask God for patience without that exclamation point!
