Why Bother Letting Patience Have Her Way?

Patience is a valued and powerful virtue. Poised individuals can calm fearful crowds—think of George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life and the scene where the stock market collapses. Everyone races to the banks and loan companies to claim their cash. Yet with absolute self-control and forbearance, George hands everyone of his customers enough money to relinquish their fears and keep the doors of his loan company open. Patient people, such as George, do not react to the fear of others, but respond with calm and controlled assurance. They do not allow clamor to reign, but instead know how to quiet the noises anxious people make. 

Though I know some people are born with a propensity toward patience, I also know that patience is a quality that can be learned.

Acquiring Patience

I admire patient people. Their perspective allows for more wobble room than that of an impatient person. Patient people don’t make excuses when someone does something wrong, but neither do they swoop in and make all things right either. Instead, they have the wherewithal to allow people to make mistakes and then stand aside to permit the natural consequences to sink in. 

A person possessing patience has enough wisdom to know that they cannot force a person to change, but their staying power is strong. They can wait for the change they hope for without giving up.  

Patience people know how to oppose impatience within themselves and with others. They apply grace, equanimity and even temperedness to every person, including themselves. Patient people understand that if they take a harsh and demanding stance against hotheaded or fretful folks, it only escalates to hotter heads, shorter tempers and angry outbursts. 

I wish patience could be learned without going through tough and trying circumstances, but it can’t. It is only when our patience is tested that we know whether or not we have any reposed stamina inside of us. 

Thankfully, patient people make wonderful teachers for those of us who are willing to learn. 

Why bother letting patience have her way? It is worth it to defer to patience since she abounds with benefits.