“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.  Against such things there is no law.”  GALATIANS 5:22-23 AMP

So what do we do when even in the little things that we need takes time? It could be slow internet in which majority of us complain, standing in queue in the bank or supermarket, sitting in a bumper to bumper traffic, or even when we wait for someone to answer our call at the other end of the line.  We so live in an “instant” world.  Funny it may seem but even our food and drinks have already been in this state of immediacy.

How do we see things when what we want to see takes patience?

What do you think you will hear yourself speak in the waiting?

Where will our focus be?

I had an appointment one night where I needed to be at the venue at a particular time. Considering the traffic, I gave myself ample time to drive my way there. Yes, I was still 30minutes early when I got to the place but my other challenge was finding a parking. I was caught unaware that there was an event going on nearby that filled up the parking building.

Oh yes, I heard myself saying, “Why can’t they just put “PARKING FULL” at the entrance instead of letting us go in, though I was warned verbally upon entry that it was full. I went round and round the place until I settled in one area where I chose to wait for someone to vacate a slot. Cars in waiting were everywhere and where I was, another car was waiting to park in front of me.

I heard myself saying again and again, why? why? why are they still letting cars enter?” Until I caught myself saying these negative complaining words. Oh my 😀😀😀 I suddenly remembered the verse that people will give account for every careless or idle word they speak (Matthew 12:36 ESV) and so I kept quiet and apologized to the Lord without saying it aloud but my heart was repentant.

A few minutes later, the car in front of me found its parking slot as the other parked car which was right next to it left. My companion suddenly said, “oh wow how lucky he is that in the whole place, the one who just left was parked next to it.” I believe Holy Spirit got hold of my tongue at this point in time and suddenly I heard myself saying, “well, he came in before us and now that it found its spot, WE ARE NEXT!”

Lo and behold, just a few minutes after, a guy just got inside a parked car in the very area where I was waiting! Thank You, Jesus! Literally I couldn’t help myself from thanking God for giving us the favor in allowing us to experientially see His goodness.

A lot of times, what the enemy does to us is to distract our focus from the limitless ability and goodness of God and into our limitations. Why do we complain? We do because when what we want to see we aren’t seeing yet, faith dissipates and fear creeps in. When the whispers of the accuser of the brethren direct our focus on ourselves and blind our eyes to see God’s, our perspective shifts into our own limited ability. Before we know it, doubts and impossibilities have already taken their root without us knowing it.

But God in His goodness knows how to woo us back into His Lordship in our lives. He never condemns us. Instead, Holy Spirit convicts us to relocate and re-posture back our minds into kingdom’s perspective where the impossible becomes possible, where He invites us and enables our minds to tap into His. We have the mind of Christ. Yes, we do, but it takes revelation to walk aware that truly this is an attribute of a believer.

No one is perfect. All of us is a work in progress. When we learn to be quick to respond to Holy Spirit’s prompting, it changes what we seek and what we see.

IN HIM, instead of worrying while waiting, we get to be joyful, peaceful and hopeful as we gaze upon His beauty and His goodness. We turn our worries into worship when the love of God is made real in our hearts that casts all our fears away. Our confidence arises ALL BECAUSE WE KNOW that He Who promised is faithful and His love always longs to see our desires made manifest much more than we ourselves long to see.  After all, His love is greater.  His willingness and ability has no equal.

Indeed, patience is not the ability to wait. It is our attitude while we are waiting.