Thoughts on Patience

We’ve all been told at one time or another to be patient. I remember hearing that a lot from my parents when I was a child. I still hear it from time to time from my husband, children, friends, therapist, and doctors. I guess it’s because I usually want something to happen right now. However, I have learned to be more patient in some areas of my life so that’s progress.

A recent example where patience was necessary dealt with our daughter getting a scholarship to Western Michigan University. She applied to WMU and for this specific scholarship in early September 2015. There was the waiting and wondering (and worrying) about whether or not they had received all the paperwork they needed. Our daughter contacted them in October because we hadn’t heard anything yet.

They said that someone would call to set up an interview. More waiting. This situation was teaching all of us a little about patience. When there’s nothing more you can do in a given situation and waiting is the only option available, you can be patient or you can be in agony. Getting impatient won’t make things move along any faster, so why get worked up? This was a situation where we really couldn’t make anything happen faster.

As parents we had to demonstrate patience. Mostly that just meant not bringing it up everyday or wondering aloud what was going on. For our daughter it meant going about her days doing what was before her. However, prayer was a definite part of my patience (praying for the outcome and praying for patience and forbearance with the process).

So October ended, and we were getting into November and we still hadn’t heard anything. Then one day, our daughter gets a call and they set up a telephone interview for the next day right after school. This required a renewed practice of patience. For us, as parents, we weren’t even privy to the interview so we didn’t know how it went. Our daughter thought the interview went well, but who knew for sure? They told her they would be making decisions starting in January. More waiting involved more patience.

We didn’t hear anything in January. We were getting a little anxious, but that’s not what patience is all about. One of the definitions for patience says, “An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.” So to have patience in this situation we had to suppress the restlessness and annoyance we felt at not knowing.

However, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “All things come round to him who will but wait.” In early February, we went to an “admitted student day” at Western. Not having heard anything from the scholarship office, our daughter called them, while we were on campus, and asked when we could expect to hear from them. The woman who answered gave us the answer we were hoping for. The acceptance letter had been sent in the mail in January, but due to address issues we often face having a post office box (they mailed it to the street address), we never got the letter. She was in!!

The Bible says we are to be long-suffering (King James Version), however, I think suffering is optional when we are being patient. We didn’t really have to wait that long to find out the answer about the scholarship, so I don’t know how patient we were. However, the end result is the same. We were able to go about our lives, get tasks done, and not be upset, annoyed, or too anxious while we waited to hear. I think we all learned a little bit more about being patient.