1057) I hate patience. Wow! Did I express this in print? Yes, I did. Patience is something I don’t “do” very well and the older I get, the less patient I become.

I have considered why I am inpatient. I could look back over my childhood or young-adulthood and psychoanalyze this behavior, but I think my lack of patience is not complicated. I just have a too-short gap between actions of others around me and my reactions. It has only been recently that I have explored this behavior within me and I realize it would profit me to work on this action/reaction time.

In Ephesians 4:2-3, the Greek word for patience is makrothumia, which means long-tempered, the opposite of the term we regularly hear, short-tempered. Choosing and learning to be long-tempered is like meekness. It means I work at controlling my reactions to things that happen around me. This is a very difficult task, but giving it some consideration may be motivating.

The act of choosing patience means I apply brakes on my emotional, physical and mental reactions. People will respond to our actions in similar fashion, so these brakes influence those around us.

Is this patience impossible? No, but it’s difficult. Most things that are difficult are often worth the effort. A sign of maturity is patience.