The P Word
Lizzie Wirgau
by Michael Murray There is a “P” word that I just can’t stand. It’s not “pizza”, because I love pizza as much as Tiffanie Brunson loves cake. It’s “patience”.
Apparently Lizzie, the fabulous CEO of Market Colors, has a lot of patience. She asked me to write this blog 3 weeks ago and I’m just now getting to it. But me? Not so much.
We are told to wait upon the Lord. Why is this so hard for us to do? Part of the reason, I think, is because we live in an uncertain world. I’m not good at math, but I think the formula would go a little something like this:
Uncertainty + Worry = NO PATIENCE.
If only there was a word for no patience. Oh wait, there is. Impatience.
When we are uncertain about our future, we worry. And when we worry, we grow impatient.
Look at Jacob from the Old Testament. We worked seven years for his uncle Laban in order to marry Rachel. Seven years! But it says that for him, those seven years seemed like only a few days because of the love he had for her. Jacob had patience because he was certain that he’d get to marry Rachel after the seven years. (Of course, the whole plan backfired and Laban, being the trickster he was, gave Jacob the wrong daughter. He had to work another seven years to marry Rachel. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t say that these seven years felt like only a few days. I guess this time Jacob wasn’t so certain about his future! But don’t you go feeling bad for him now. He had it coming for the whole stealing the birthright thing.)
When you start feeling impatient, ask yourself, “What am I getting impatient about?” A job? A raise/promotion? A relationship? The release of the Muppets DVD? Chances are you are growing impatient because you are uncertain or worried about the outcome. It is in these moments that we must realize there is a bigger picture than we are capable of seeing. Only God can see it.
This is hard. I don’t do it well most of the time. But if we can just believe that God really does has plans to prosper us, we’d be more confident about our future. And we’d worry less. And then we’d be able to wait upon the Lord without squirming in our chairs!