How Long is Patience?

We’ve all seen it before:

A mother tells her child to wait a five minutes until he can have something he really wants. The child quiets down for a moment, and then pats his mother on the knee. “Mommy, is it five minutes yet?”

“No, Honey, not yet.” She tells him gently.

He is silent for a few minute or two and then returns. “Mommy, is it time?”

She shakes her head smiling softly and rebuffs him again. “No, Baby. Be patient. I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

We continue to watch as the child goes through agony trying to wait patiently for the promised goodie. Five minutes to him is forever! Since he has no perception of time, he has no choice but to trust that his mother will let him know exactly when the allotted time has passed. We can’t help but chuckle watching the little one because we know five minutes is no time at all.

I imagine that’s how our Heavenly Father views us sometimes. We are so anxious to obtain His promise to us that we keep going back to Him asking if it’s our turn yet. He always gently nudges us off the subject and tells us to be patient.

We sit back and writhe in discomfort, inwardly churning with anxiousness. We want our promise now! We want to have our blessing now! And like that little child, we continue to go back over and over pressing our Father when He’s already given us our answer: Be Patient.

My Apostle voiced my inward cries best, “But how long is patience?!”

With God, Patience lasts until the promise is given. We just have to trust our Father and allow Him the courtesy of telling us when it’s our time to receive. To us it may be agony, but to Him, it’s no time at all.

Verse of the Day: For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Hebrews 10:36