Patience Part 1

Patience is a wonderful attribute to find in someone, but is a very hard thing to learn.  If someone possesses even a little of this character trait, it should be nurtured and developed, early in life.  It is extremely difficult to become a patient person over time and in many instances lack of patience becomes more prevalent the older we become.  It takes immense concentration and time to develop this attribute and I admire anyone that is trying to exercise this fruit of the spirit.  So how does one begin to work at this trait and successfully become a patient person? Well I think, as with many things, it begins with faith and belief that we need to be tolerant and understanding of ourselves and of others, even when we become frustrated with incompetence, or a level, which does not meet our criteria, or standards.  We are often impatient without thinking of the persons, circumstances, and we judge them according to our own high standards instead of taking into account the place they find themselves in.  In order to begin to understand their level of knowledge, on a topic, we need to ask them how they came to be where they are today and take a moment to check before firing at them randomly for lack of competence.  They may have had no opportunities in life, to reach a higher standard, they may have suffered losses which have broken down their confidence and feelings of respect and reputation.  I know it is hard when you want something done immediately, to find the time to take these aforementioned aspects into account, but much can be read from a simple question, or time spent trying to understand and taking the focus off ourselves for a moment.  This is what clearly develops our patience, even if we fail to understand, why the person is doing what you think they should not be doing. (to be continued).