Patience waits!

"Lord, I pray for patience." This was my prayer last Fall. At the time, I didn't know why I was praying for patience. I think now I am learning why.

Why is having patience so hard? Maybe it's because the world in which we live is not conducive to patience. When we want something, we want it now and we have the means to get it! Right? I know if I order coffee at a restaurant, I expect it to come hot and fast. If one store can't serve me coffee the way I like, I can go to another one! Then, there's instant communication through cell phones, which allow us to be available for others all the time. I've often felt like a slave to my phone! Living with daily conveniences can cause me to be impatient, presumptuous, or to have expectations, but convenience does not produce character! So patience does not come naturally in a world of convenience; it is a daily struggle as we learn to wait on the Holy Spirit.

Often I question, "Lord, what it is that I am waiting for? Won't you give me a clue to my fate. Why is it that you tell me to wait?" But I think I am missing the beauty of patience! Maybe you are too? You see we are called to "let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:4). Gold when it is refined must go through a process. First, the gold is placed in the fire and the impurities on the outside are burned, turning black before being removed by the goldsmith. Then, as the fire is heated hotter, the impurities on the inside of the gold surface and when these have also been consumed and darkened by the flame, the goldsmith will remove them as well. The finished product is a purified piece of gold!

Even so, Lord Jesus, come! Whatever it is that God might be doing in your life, beckon Him to purify you! It is a beautiful thing. It hurts at times, it is humbling, it may feel like God's chipping away at your heart, but He has a purpose for refining us. We must never think that our waiting is in vain! We may be confident of this, "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). The practice of patience helps complete something lacking in us!

So go ahead Lord, rid me of my blackness, bring out the worst in me so that the Holy Spirit can dwell here! I'll admit that I'm not perfect, I'm sorry for things in the past, but You have offered forgiveness and hope and You never give up on us! That is a promise! Teach me that patience waits!