You’ve heard it said “Don’t pray for patience”. Why? Because the Lord, may give you something that will cause you to pull out your hair. My cup does not runneth over with patience when it comes to other drivers. If they would just follow the rules, I wouldn’t have to yell them. They all had to, at one time or another, take a driving test right?  So how could they pass it and still be such a terrible driver.
 
I know this is a terrible weakness, so every day when I get behind the wheel I pray that I won’t be judgmental and to relax. I definitely don’t pray for patience unless I want to punish myself. But when the driver in front of me does something wrong (stupid) I tell them. Then I have to repent for what I thought. Now mind you it doesn’t get any worse than calling them dumb or stupid and they never hear me so what’s wrong with that? I know everybody does it at least once, but the thing that’s wrong is my critical spirit.
 
On the other hand, when it comes to talking with students especially the littlest ones patient becomes my middle name. Their requests for a book is like a treasure hunt. They don’t know the title and they don’t know the author, but they can tell you what the books all about. Unfortunately, I have not read all 50,000 books in the library. Other times I’m at a loss to even understand the story plot. One student tried so hard to convey the title to a book, but it just sounded like gibberish. I looked at the teacher for help. She listened and interpreted what the student said. I thought I had a problem, why couldn’t I understand him, but the teacher later told me the student had severe speech problems. That made me want to work all the harder to understand. Can you imagine not being able to communicate normally?
 
When the classes from Special Ed come into the library, I put my patient hat back on and tie it tightly to my head; at least it won’t fall off.  I relax and go with the flow. Between one teacher, two to three aides and me we manage to wrangle them into the book stacks and find just the right book for them. Thrilled with their selection they find a beanbag and actually stay quiet for the rest of the library time.
 
I don’t understand it myself but do or die I will be patient in learning a new knitting pattern. I will knit a few rows, rip it out, knit a few and repeat the rip out. Finally, after five or six times the lace pattern starts to make sense. Sometimes it was pattern error, but most of the time it was understanding how the stitches fit into the pattern making it slip into place.
 
So why can’t I take the same frame of mind and apply it towards the driver in front of me. Any suggestions?

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