Patience

by Heather Hamilton

Patience. What is it? Where does it come from? How do we attain more? Patience can be defined as the ability to endure graciously. Maybe we could even add without complaining or calmly. What a great quality to have!

We are not born with patience. When babies are hungry, they cry. When they hurt, they cry. Their minds only comprehend their immediate needs. I would suggest it comes from a combination of maturing or growing older and life experiences. Thus, older people tend to have a greater amount of patience than those who are younger. We all know someone who seems to have an endless amount of patience. Sometimes we are even envious of them.

So how can we attain more patience without just growing older? We should grow our patience from where it starts. If you can roast a marshmallow to a perfect golden brown, then you have some level of patience.

While all experiences in life are not as simple as roasting a marshmallow, I believe the same patience can be applied. When you first place your marshmallow in the fire, nothing happens right away. After some time you start to see some browning. This triggers your reaction to rotate your stick. Again, you wait for the browning and rotate. This pattern continues until you have reached your desired level of doneness. And now your need to be patient is done and you enjoy the results of your patience.

Likewise, when we first enter a situation requiring patience, nothing happens right away. After some time we may see the need to react or change. Again, we wait for a different result. As time goes on, we may react or change our actions again. Eventually we reach the end of our experience when our time of patience is over and we can feel relief or enjoy the results.

Each experience with patience can build on the previous to make it easier to endure the next challenge. Patience is a virtue and one we should certainly pursue.

These are just my thoughts. I hope you find them helpful. Look for the joy in all situations.