Patience truly can be a blessing

But let patience have her perfect work ...

- James 1:4 (KJV)

Today while shopping, I noticed the guy in line in front of me looking to the right and then the left. I figured he was looking to jump the long checkout line, just as I was. But there were less than a handful of checkouts open. And each of them had people standing in line just as long as the one I was in.

So, like the guy in front of me, I gave up the hunt and conceded to try and wait my turn. About 5 minutes into what turned out to be a 20-minute wait, I figured God was testing the patience of all us line-jumpers.

God keeps trying to get through to us how important the power of patience is, yet it's not something we seem to comprehend. However, I think there's beautiful results that can only be brought about with patience.

One dictionary definition I found describes patience this way: "The capacity to accept or tolerate, delay trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset."

That's a difficult one in the culture we live in, where people want their own way.

I remember years ago disciplining my children if they were impatient and disruptive in public, and my parents doing the same thing when we were growing up. I guess God, as our ultimate parent, is still trying to get the message across to all of us on this.

Patience is one of the fruits of God's spirit. We are blessed that He is so patient, otherwise, when we mess up or sin, we'd be in big trouble. Instead, because love is patient (1 Corinthian 13:), He waits on us and works with us to get it right.

So when we're impatient with the checkout clerk, or even ourselves, we need to check how much of a loving character we are displaying. If we look at it as the level of endurance we have before becoming disrespectful, it may get us to think about why we should become more patient.

This applies to many situations, such as being patient when we're interrupted, or when people are immature in an area we are not, or when someone doesn't understand what we are going through.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 informs us, "God makes everything beautiful in it's time." I think one of those things God's trying to beautify is us.

I also think there are many hidden blessings that come to us only through patience. One of them is a peace rather than stress or frustration.

So maybe when we are placed in a situation and are tempted to be impatient, we should observe if there is a problem that needs correcting, or if it's God trying to give us a healthy beauty treatment of patience.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.