Patience Takes Practice
by Kelli McKinney - Title Marketing Specialist
We humans wait in line for all sorts of things. Grocery cashiers, bank tellers, coffee, fast food, museum exhibits, boarding buses, you name it. We wait for it.
Google says that Americans spend an average of 37 hours waiting in line over the course of a year. That’s about a day and a half, give or take, spent waiting.
That 37 hours isn’t the whole story, either, because it doesn’t include the amount of time spent waiting on hold, or sitting in traffic.
If the average human lives 80 years, that’s about six months of life spent in line. Six months. The idea of wasting time standing and waiting makes my skin itchy.
But is waiting really wasted time?
When I told my husband I needed to brainstorm ideas for writing a Substack about patience, he said “I guess that all depends on what’s wrong with them. Are they sick? Did they break something?”
I stared at him for a moment.
“Get it? Patients? You’re practicing patience right now, aren’t you?”
He was right. I was. But he had a point.
We don’t arrive on this planet automatically knowing what virtues like patience look like. We catch them modeled for us, whether by our immediate family, close friends, teachers, and the like. That can look like taking turns with siblings and friends, baking or cooking, or learning a skill like riding a bike, playing an instrument, or gardening.
Older kids, tweens and teens can learn the value of patience by learning to save their allowance or earnings to buy something special for a loved one or for themselves.
To my earlier question – is waiting really wasted time?
I happen to believe that it’s not. If we’re paying attention, beautiful things can happen while we wait. I’ve had some lovely conversations in line at the grocery store (yes, I’m that person). I’ve quietly witnessed moms teaching their kids to read, older couples holding hands, and babies discovering their toes fit perfectly into their mouth. Life in all its sweetness happens all around us, all the time, whether we’re paying attention or not. Whether we’re in a hurry or not.
Scripture tells us that the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps (Prov 16:9). I don’t know about you but I’ve made some pretty incredible plans for my life. I’ve even put my plans into motion, certain that I would be wildly successful, and waited.
Most of the time, that wild success was only in my overactive imagination. Usually, my plans failed, but something curious happened along the way.
A new plan eventually became clear, one that was far better and much sweeter. These better plans took root and grew, and they grew so well that I didn’t mind waiting for the result.
How do you practice patience in your life? How do you model patience for your family?
Until next time,
K