Are you a considerate “wait-er”?  Not like the person who takes your restaurant order, but one who is asked to demonstrate patience?  Think of traffic jams. Lengthy red lights when no car is in sight.  Standing in a return line after Christmas. Unnecessary, college requirements in order to graduate. Impulsive credit card debt as opposed to saving money for a purchase. Writing off a potential friendship because of a bad first impression.

If you’re like me, your patience is constantly tested. Think, the grocery store line.  You choose the shortest one and watch everyone in the longer lines get out the door before you.  This is a regular occurrence for me.  My line always seems to be the one in which the customer argues about the price or has expired coupons or whose debit card is denied.  I wouldn’t mind it if they made eye contact and said they were sorry, but they seem oblivious to me tapping my toes or clearing my throat or semi-whispering, “Seriously???!!!”

We impatient types do not accept that this “now” moment is a teachable one but focus only on what is ahead.

The article “Exploring Your Mind” listed eight consequences of impatience.  Two came as a shock: (1) it causes obesity (because you eat impulsively) and (2) it speeds up the aging process by weakening the telomeres, structures that protect DNA from breaking down so the signs of aging appear. (In other words, if I don’t get my impatience under control, I will become fat and wrinkly.)

I make rash decisions with less-than-desirable consequences. Volunteering to help where I am not qualified.  Purchasing a car that cannot handle our town’s brick streets.  Becoming involved in a friendship that zaps my energy.  Defending someone without knowing both sides of the story. When I am impatient, I expect God to answer my prayers…Now!

The crazy thing is, being too patient also can be problematic.  I know people who are patient to a fault. (I do not fall into this category.) They cannot make a decision and miss out on great sales/ job opportunities. They spend too much time weighing their options for wonderful friendships or a loving relationship. They delay seeing a doctor until the prognosis is a deadly one.

Let’s face it.  We all are called to be a patient “wait-er.”  In the Bible, we read in the Old Testament of the Israelites waiting hundreds of years for the Messiah to appear, and as Christians, we also wait expectantly for that same Messiah to return to earth for the final days before eternal judgment begins.  In the meantime, we are to find the balance necessary between impatience and patience, to enjoy our journey and not waste the “now” in our lives.

Sounds like a perfect New Years’ Eve Resolution, don’t you think?