Dear Amy,

How can we grow in patience?

The fruit of the Spirit is … patience

― Galatians 5:22

My dictionary defines patience like this:

patience /ˈpeɪʃ(ə)ns/
▸ noun [mass noun]
the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious

― Oxford Dictionary of English

Let’s focus on delay for now. So, how can we grow in patience in the face of delay?

Now I’m asking an easy question! We grow in this patience by having to wait, and by learning to wait well. But actually waiting well is anything but easy. It is the hardest thing. And it’s harder still when we can’t understand why. Why the wait?

It helps to consider those who waited before us. Like Moses.

After a miraculous escape from being drowned at birth, Moses had a privileged upbringing, growing up in the royal palace of Egypt, learning leadership and what it meant to rule. As a gifted and highly capable forty year old, he thought he was ready to lead his people out of slavery. The Lord had other plans! Moses spent the next forty years tending sheep in the wilderness. We can wonder how long it took him to come to terms with that! I’m sure he spent quite some time raging against the apparent pointlessness of his life. But what was the result?

Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.

― Numbers 12:3

During those forty years the Lord wrought some fundamental changes in Moses’ heart. Where else did that humility come from? In that waiting time, Moses had been completely transformed, and was finally ready to be used by the Lord.

Waiting may feel like death, but in fact it can be a path to abundant life, to the mother lode of spiritual blessing and joy. It is a powerful agency of the Lord to change our heart and grow each one of us into someone who can be of some use in the Kingdom. If we can notice this happening in ourselves as it unfolds, that may help us to wait with patience, and to wait well.

Learn to wait well, Amy, and grow in patience! 🙏