So I am wondering when God will give up trying to teach me patience…I get a phone call telling me that one of my Dad’s best friends from back home has died. I don’t need to tell him this over the phone. Cathy and I go to tell him in person. On the way we stop to get his favorite snack to soften the bad news, he told me earlier in the day to bring him some Honey Buns (when you are nearly 84 you should eat all the sweets you can). I swing in the store to quickly grab a box and head to the express counter (I am always at top speed even when I don’t need to hurry...it is just my pace of life). A lady with a few more items than me almost pushes me out of the way to go ahead. OK, I am a gentleman (even though I only have one item) my mother taught me Ladies’ go first so I step back. She then seeks to pay with a food stamps card. It doesn’t work. The young high school clerk struggles to make it work. The woman becomes indignant barking instructions embarrassing the young clerk.
I am now growing impatient; my wife is waiting in the car. I told her I would only be a second. We are trying to visit Dad and share the news, stay to comfort him and then still get home without staying up too late because we both have early work days tomorrow. I am now thinking about leaving the single box of Honey Buns (I can get some later) and just leaving. However, that will call attention to me as someone who seems publicly impatient and now I spy my next door neighbor at the next register. She knows I am a pastor and I need to be aware of my public behavior. “Lord, will you try to teach me to be patient at a better time?”
Now the manager has been called in and he is not helping to expedite the situation. The line behind me is growing longer as the manager is struggling to make the food stamps card work. I am now thinking about just paying for her groceries myself so we can get on the way…wait she is trying to pay with a food stamps card. I am a tax payer. I AM ALREADY PAYING FOR HER GROCERIES! “Lord why won’t you teach me patience some other time?”
Finally the manager tells her the card simply will not work. The woman PULLS OUT CASH and PAYS FOR THE GROCERIES! “Lord why won’t you teach me patience some other time?”
I get out to the car and Cathy asks me what took so long…as I tell the story and get wound up (I am a preacher, I am a professional at getting wound up). I then begin to realize all that has happened to me is a few extra minutes in an express lane. I am not about to hear news that my best friend has died. I am not a grieving widow back in my home town who has lost her mate and best friend of most of her life. I settle down and thank God for the lesson in perspective and PATIENCE. “Thank you Lord for teaching me patience at this time!”
