…There Is a Time to Wait

10/16/2010. 9:36 a.m.

Today I realized patience is a virtue because it’s hard.

Impatience is a condition that has been with me for many years, along with its consequences.

It makes me wonder if impatience is another inherent human quality. If it isn’t, it is something we learn very early because as soon as we figure out where the cookie jar is, there is no more waiting- we end up hanging in perilous positions on the edge of the kitchen counter in our crusade to quench our sweet desires. These days the consequences for trying to grasp things before their proper time are more unfortunate than a stomachache or spoiled appetite.

The Bible records the first ever theft from the metaphorical cookie jar. In Adam & Eve we witness impatience and desire that forever changed the blueprint of humanity.

They saw something good. They desired. They caved.

As I consider this, I remember whenever Mom denied our feeble advances, she never said: “You can’t have that.” No, one word made all the difference: “You can’t have that now“

For all Adam & Eve knew, God might’ve one day given them a taste of that then forbidden fruit. Maybe God just knew they weren’t ready.

Why was that tree there if He did not intend on someday sharing its knowledge? We will never know. Maybe its purpose truly was a test of obedience.

Nevertheless, we have inherited this savage tendency from our biblical ancestors, it has become our nature, and we must work against its pull.

One of the overwhelming themes in the Bible is patience. I think this comes out of God’s realization, or saving knowledge rather, of who we are. He knows if left alone acting out on our own timing and desires, we are left in great peril.

A wise man says in Ecclesiastes, “there is a time for everything,” and we must wait for those times. Otherwise we end up like Adam & Eve, overwhelmed and powerless against the very thing they desired, because fresh from Creation, they didn’t yet have the experience and strength to hold its power.

One of the true signs of impending maturity is a realization of the fact that sometimes we must wait because we are too immature for the things we are waiting for.