Patience is not passive
Patience has been given a bad rap! Let me start with what patience is not: tolerating bad behavior, accepting abuse, keeping silent when others are overreaching the boundaries you have placed, waiting in denial that something or someone will rescue you. It is not passive. I have heard many people say “don’t pray for patience because you’ll get stuck in traffic.” Hmm. So, praying for patience will put me in situations that cause me great anxiety and “tolerating it” gives me patience ??? No, it makes me angry and at that point “patience” becomes my ability to control my anger ? Which leads to another subject : self control, which I will not discuss here. So, what is patience? Patience takes guts. Let me give you some examples. Training a child does not mean that I get hostile or angry or tolerate bad behavior. Patience in this situation requires the ability to communicate in a way that can be clearly understood. Patience is work . A child has no reference for right or wrong until g