I Suppose We are Not Patient People.

We would like to think ourselves patient people.

Patient in lines. Patient with children. Patient for strong coffee.

And then Your beckoning voice asks us to wait some more. To be patient.

Patient in silence. Patient with injustice. Patient for understanding.

And we find ourselves a much less patient people with these.

We find that as You ask, we begin sighing and crying, kicking and screaming. Because these are not elements easily acquired or quickly pursued. They are not a simple cup of coffee, but the strings tied close to our hearts. And we always thought they were better off in our quickened, closed grasp.

I suppose we are not patient people.

And that faith is much more of waiting than we'd like to admit.

So, Patient One, look down in tender mercies on us. Be Your Waiting Self and, by doing so, reorient us to the waiting of the Gospel. That we may trust You more fully by opening our hands and stopping our stomping feet.