Patience on Demand

I can be patient to a fault but there are moments when my patience is severely tested.  For some reason, driving is one of those areas I struggle with.  In fact, my lack of patience with other drivers is legendary.  People driving slower than the speed limit, pulling out in front of me, not taking off when the light turns green, etc just frost me for some reason.  It shouldn’t and I do try to work on it.

For the last 2 weeks the air conditioning has been out at our house.  It has also been the hottest stretch of weather so far this year.  Temperatures inside the house have approached 90 degrees and fans have done little to provide relief.  I don’t do well with hot weather as it saps my strength and ability to sleep. The only relief we could find is when we drove our air conditioned van.

Then something wonderful happened as a lesson on patience made itself known.  I noticed us leaving earlier for church so we could take our time and enjoy the cool air in the van.  At no time was the speed limit exceeded nor did I fuss at anyone at all.  I was cool.  Did people still drive slower than the speed limit?  Yes, but that was OK.  Did folks still pull out in front of me?  Yes, but I was cool.

I noticed I was more patient behind the wheel than I normally was and began to wonder why.  The answer came quickly.  At that time being cool was more important than the foolishness of other drivers.  In short, I didn’t care what others were doing as I was enjoying relief from the hot conditions at the house. 

There are always lessons to learn in bad situations.  “Count it all joy when you fall into many trials, knowing that the proving of your faith works patience” (James 1:2-3.)  Because of a hot house I have learned patience while driving.  Overcoming life’s vexations involves taking the trials we face and letting them help us overcome weaknesses.  As we overcome each weakness, we grow steadily in patience.  Each subsequent trial then becomes easier to bear.  The only harm done is when we fail to learn from our trials.