Patience

Standing on a line waiting for a cashier to stop talking to customers and do her work so that I can get my stuff requires patience. On a highway clogged with cars moving at a parking lot speed forces us to face the fact that we are very impatient. Patience is often not in our minds because we do not like waiting. We want things to be done when we want them.

In a way, cell phone culture is a nice metaphor for the world that is impatient. People cannot wait to meet and talk: they have to talk now. People wonder why you are not answering or returning their phone calls now even when you are busy. People interrupt conversations to answer their cell phones immediately and expect others to do the same. Instant culture has no patience.

For Christians living in this instant and impatient culture is difficult because the very first word that describes is love. That is, as the people who loves God and others, we are to be patient in the impatient world. Our life, therefore, becomes totally counter cultural. Instead of demanding instant reply to our e-mail, we are patient in waiting for the reply. Instead of counting every second of passing moment for that return phone call, we love them by being patient.

Patience also works when we react to people who are angry at us because their demands are not met by us instantly, when we deal with impossible people who only think of themselves and their own conveniences, when we meet those who rush things because rushing is only thing they know, and when we minister to one another in most circumstances. Patience as one of the virtues of love requires much discipline and resolve. Yet, being patient demonstrates that we as Christians are loving and live life of love.

Remember that being counter-cultural and standing out in this world of impatient loving is all about being patient.