Developing patience

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, a well-known Bible teacher, related the following anecdote:

Several centuries ago, the emperor of Japan commissioned an artist to paint a magnificent portrait of an exotic bird. After many months of waiting, the Japanese emperor went to the man’s studio to see how he was progressing.

Upon his arrival, the emperor found that the final touches had just been put on the canvas. The work was a masterpiece in every minute detail. When his illustrious guest asked what had taken so long, the painter went from cabinet to cabinet, producing armloads of separate sketches, which featured outlines of the bird’s feathers, tendons, wings, claws, eyes, and feet. He had been making preliminary drawings all along, but only when the emperor appeared was the lengthy task perfected.

The artist certainly carries one very important virtue that makes him a master in his craft. He has patience.

Almost every person I know struggles in the area of patience. I am extremely impatient and perhaps you are too. Here’s another story:

A preacher quit the ministry after 20 years and became a funeral director. When asked why he changed career, he said: “I spent three years trying to straighten out Carlos and Carlos is still an alcoholic, then I spent six months trying to straighten out Susan’s marriage and she separated from her husband. I spent another two and a half years trying to straighten out Robert’s drug problem and he’s still an addict. But now at the funeral home when I straighten them out – they stay straight!”

Looks like he has lost his patience, life is a test in patience!

This is a fallen world and we are imperfect people. Every single person born into this world is born with factory defects and there is no exception to this rule.

Guess what? This week you can expect that your patience will be tested in at least four different ways:

1. Interruptions - you’ll sit down to dinner and someone will knock at your front door; you’ll be in the restroom and the phone will ring; you’ll be working on a deadline and your boss will ask you to attend a meeting.

There will be unexpected visitors or phone calls like the ones that wake me up early in the morning just when I hit the bed at 3:30 a.m. You’ve got a deadline to meet and something requires your time.

Our best plans are often interrupted.

2. Inconveniences - While interruptions are usually people, these are usually situations involving things: the copy machine breaks down, traffic jams up, you can’t find what you need when you need it.

Flights will be canceled or delayed; car trouble may leave you stuck on the freeway. How will you react?

You may be preparing for a presentation or if you are like me, preparing for a talk, a lecture, a seminar and then your worst nightmare comes true. Your computer crashes.

And here’s the most common of them all. You’re on your way to meet your client and you know the moment you get the contract your career with your company will go full blast and a big promotions with an even bigger salary raise is in the offering. And then you can’t seem to make your appointment on time because you’re trapped in traffic.

3. Irritations – These are those little things that are beyond your control and they really make our life uncomfortable.

Irritations, delays, unreliable people, having to play telephone tag, catching a cold, obnoxious clients etc. tend to bring out either the best or the beast in us.

The truth to losing our patience is this. It’s The Little Things That Get To You.

It’s amazing how 15 minor frustrations at the office can add up to one big bad attitude by the time you head for home. Frustrations come in different varieties.

4. Inactivity - you’ll be forced to wait... in lines, in offices, in traffic, in elevators. In a pressure cooker fast paced, high-tension, high living society we’re in, we would rather do almost anything but wait.

 Why do you think they put mirrors inside and around elevators? So that people who look at themselves are so preoccupied they don’t get irritated waiting for their rides.

Maybe God allowed interruptions, inconveniences, irritations, and inactivity to happen so that He can mold our character and make us learn patience.

You get impatient and stress yourself. It’s not good for your health. Research has proven that people who are habitually impatient are the ones most prone to be heart attack victims. Many people I know grow old prematurely because they lack patience. Impatience may get you what you want, but leave you with a result you don’t like.

Scriptures in Proverbs 19:2 says “Impatience will get you into trouble.”

You could probably provide a few personal examples of that truth!

Try to be patient. It is both a skill and an attitude we can develop.

Learn to wait, it’s good for you. And remember this: It’s better to be last in the traffic lane than first in the funeral procession.

(Francis Kong will be running his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership seminar workshop this Aug. 23-24 at Seda Hotel, BGC. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798.)