Several times in the past few days, both myself and Claire have come across situations and individuals that “tried our patience.”
I’ve always heard that patience is a virtue. I suppose that’s true, but it’s also an acquired trait and an achievement. Patience is a virtue simply means that the ability to wait for something or someone without being angry or getting upset is a good and valuable quality. According to my extensive research, there is a phrase in Latin — “patience is the greatest virtue.” But some sources give credit to William Langland who apparently coined the phrase in 1377.
Today most of us are so busy rushing around jumping from one thing to another, we actually miss out on life. The majority of people don’t learn the true meaning and purpose of patience until they’re much older. To a lot of people, patience sucks. But the fact that patience is a good thing has been drilled into us most of our lives — when we were little, we all read, or had read to us, the story of the tortoise and the hare. I remember it never made much sense to me that a turtle could ever win a race with a rabbit, but that story was conveying how important patience really is. Patience is also stressed throughout the Bible — there’s a verse in Proverbs that says, “a hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.”
There’s an old joke that proves how important patience really is. A supervisor, manager and the director of a large company were walking to lunch one day when they found an antique oil lamp lying on the curb. They rubbed it and a Genie came out and said, “I’ll give each of you just one wish.” The supervisor yelled, “Me first! Me first!” and asked to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat. Puff! He’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” said the manager and wished to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with an endless supply of Pina Coladas. Puff! He’s gone. So the Genie says, “Ok, you’re up” to the director. The director said, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.” The moral of the story is be patient and always let your boss have the first say….
Anyhow, I’m sure patience will come to any one who waits for it.
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