Patient

Sometimes I am not a patient person. I complain about traffic and poor driving, I don't like waiting in drive-through lines, I stand and watch the coffee maker.

Sometimes it's even worse, I become quickly frustrated with my daughter as I attempt to help with her math homework, I can become easily annoyed by my boys when I have to repeat my expectations over and over to them. Sometimes I react badly when our family schedule changes. I often become irritated when something prevents me from getting my own way.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant..." (1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV)

As churches, I think we are impatient with people. Sometimes I think we find ourselves as the Church feeling impatient because of the sin that we see in the lives of people in our church families and around us in our communities. I think we feel like life transformation takes longer than we wish, perhaps because it takes time sometimes and we expect it to be instant. I think, honestly, we are often impatient with God - as if our timing and our planning were better than His.

Love is patient. Not sometimes patient or selectively patient. It is always patient - patient with those we know and those we don't know. Patient in all circumstances.

Am I truly patient? Are we as churches truly patient? How does my / our lack of patience reflect God to those around me / us?