Impatience

Now that I am retired, I have a little more flexibility after something like a snow storm.

Last winter, I was able to change the doctor’s appointment to a video conference call (which, by the way, anytime I’m able to visit with a doctor via a video call I question whether the visit was necessary in the first place). I was supposed to find out a test result that, depending on the outcome, could have been the start of an ugly treatment decision.  Since the doctor agreed to the video visit (and some insider info I already had), I knew it was going to come back as showing that I didn’t have that condition. The best news is that I don’t have to go back to see him for a year (not that he isn’t a sparkling conversationalist!)

The leader of my music group that I am in, notified us around noon that our practice was being cancelled due to weather. The peer pressure to cancel must be intense when every school and even our church had already canceled for the day. You would hate to take a “damn the torpedoes” approach and feel responsible for someone getting hurt when so many other organizations canceled for safety reasons.

That left one task I had to do - plow my driveway. I was excited because I had been released from my no lawnmower restriction just the week before. I jumped on my lawnmower (I have a blade on the front of it) and plowed my driveway in less than an hour. Ah, the sweet feeling of satisfaction of riding my lawnmower after being restricted from it for 6 months.

The next day was a busy day for me. I had 4 scheduled meetings that day with just enough time between them that I didn’t have time to do anything else. So, besides the meeting and the travel between them (and squeezing in getting my trash out to the curb for Friday pickup), most of my quiet thinking time was while I was driving to and fro. I determined fairly quickly that my old nemesis, impatience, was setting in.

“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” - Proverbs 14:29 ESV

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” - James 5:7-11

For whatever reason, some drivers, whenever they see any snow at all, slow down to the point of impeding traffic’s normal flow.  I’m talking about situations like driving 30 mph in a 45 mph zone and such.  By the time I was driving to the church, I determined that my patience was being tested and I was failing.  I needed God.

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” - Matthew 9:35-38

“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” - Hebrews 5:11-14

I know that you are either nodding your head in agreement with my weakness or shaking your head in disbelief that I’d be fixated on something so trivial when there are so many more important challenges that people address.  I will be the first to admit that I am nowhere near the end of my faith walk.