Situation: Samantha was the 'rich woman' in my circle of neighborhood friends. All of our husbands worked hard at earning a living but Samantha's husband was a 'bigshot' who earned a lot more. And Samantha very much wanted us to be jealous.
Samantha was drying her hair one day and the hair dryer just quit. Now most of us would think that it just got too hot and automatically cut off or perhaps the power went out. Samantha didn't think - she just yanked the hair dryer out of the plug and threw it on the floor and broke it! Then she got a new hair dryer.
The rest of us didn't say anything to Samantha after she told us that because we knew: Samantha was the 'spoiled' one, Samantha bought whatever she wanted, and Samantha was very wasteful. Looking back at what happened many years ago, I would like to add: Samantha had no patience!
Lessons learned: This small incident is a reminder that patience is a character quality that would serve us all well to develop. If we have a 'trigger' personality, and just react to every event in our lives without some thought, we will have a very hard life.
What can we do to develop patience? We need to believe that we're not the center of the universe, that everyone else is equally as important as we are. We need to know that hardly ever is anyone purposely trying to aggravate us. As a matter of fact, most of us have to try very hard just to deal with our own problems that we don't have time to think up ways to hurt anyone else.
As for relationships, it is the 'mellow,' considerate, patient people who will be stable in our lives. If you encounter anyone with a 'trigger' level of impatience and anger, steer clear!
Outcome: I moved, Samantha moved. We've lost track of each other.
Lord God, we pray that you will help us develop patience, kindness, and love. We can always be better than we are now!
No comments:
Post a Comment