patience

I’m waiting for God to tell me what to write about today.

I asked for guidance and was sincere in my request. But there are cobwebs forming on the keyboard and the tick, tick, tick of the clock on the wall is beginning to tick me off, no pun intended.

Ever waited on God? Of course you have. Who hasn’t?

There could be any number of reasons why the Lord hasn’t provided me with a blog topic yet, but knowing my shortcomings as well as I do, I suppose it could have to do with patience. You see, I don’t have any.

Well, I guess I must have a little, otherwise my head would have burst by now and sprayed angry juice over everything.

In  meetings I want to strangle those who don’t get to the point. At the store I burn with anger when the line doesn’t go fast enough. And driving, oh my, driving is where my impatience spews out like lava out of a volcano.

In fact, this may surprise you, but in my experience everyone on the road is an idiot. Except for me, of course. And their mistakes? Well, I’ve never been guilty of committing them myself, at least not that I’d admit.

Ohhhhhhhh, crud. I think I’ve just stumbled upon a topic for today’s blog: Impatience and a short fuse.

Can you believe how sneaky God is? I never saw this coming. I just started writing and then…..this.

All right, fine, I guess I’ll go with it. Let me start with the obvious: I’m not like my heavenly Father. Unlike me He’s patient, and unlike me, He’s got a long fuse.

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”1

The above verses are talking about why the Lord hasn’t returned yet. And why hasn’t He? Because He’s “patient with” those on earth who haven’t repented of their sins yet. He’s putting up with them, hoping they’ll eventually make Jesus their Lord and Savior.

In my case, He waited patiently during 35 years of gross sin and unbelief before I finally came to my senses. He could have smited me any number of times, but didn’t. Unlike me, He kept His cool.

And so, here I am covered in sackcloth and ashes, guilty of impatience and a short temper. While I’ve had some fun with the topic, I recognize how destructive—and sinful—it is. And how destructive—and sinful—I can be.

So what about you? Are you impatient like me? Do you have anger problems like me?

If so, then you need to deal with it.  Like me, you need to confess it as sin and strive to be more like your heavenly Father.

Am I sorry now that I asked God for a blog topic? Yep. I’m guessing you are, too.

Yet, here we are. So let’s make the necessary life changes. And let’s be a little impatient about it, shall we?

1  2 Peter 3:8-9