Today I Choose Patience...

Today I choose patience, to respond in love instead of react out of impatience.
Oh patience...it's something that is tested on a very regular basis everyday! Think about the number of times that as a child you heard or as a parent you have said, "you are really testing my patience." We can so easily react out of anger and say things that we instantly regret. About nine years ago I was given some advice that I took to heart and have never forgotten. At this time in my life I was about to take over leading the Jr. High ministry at our church and my now wonderful mother-in-law, who was stepping down from the ministry, gave me some advice on how to handle the students. She told me to "respond not react" and I have taken those words of wisdom and applied them to so many areas of my life. I want to be a person that takes a deep breath, thinks about what I am going to say and responds out of love instead of reacts out of impatience. "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love." (Psalm 103:8) Are we?
Proverbs 15:18 tells us that "A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel." We are called in Colossians 3:12 to, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." And in Galatians chapter 5 we are instructed to live by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of our sinful nature. It's hard to live by the Spirit when we are trying to do so on our own, but when we start to ask the Lord to change us and to give us strength to respond in patience; we begin to see a change. The thing we must remember is that if we are asking for help with being patient, we will probably come across many things that test our patience! Even as I am writing this, I am having to work on my patience with my kids. One just woke up the other and it is frustrating, but I must respond in patience.
I love the words from Paul in Ephesians 4:1-2, "As a prisoner for the Lord; then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble, and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." That is how I want to treat others. I want to be a person that is humble, gentle, patient and loving. And our patience must extend beyond our family, friends, co-workers, etc.; we must show patience when we are waiting in a long line at the store or when someone cuts us off on the freeway. Our reactions can either glorify our Savior or our flesh and I want everything I do to bring glory to my God!
So today, I choose patience. Lord give me the strength that I will need to slow down, respond and be patient.