Patience, Grasshopper

I have never been afflicted with Patience. I am a woman of action, and I prefer to keep things moving.
It was with some trepidation, then, that I decided to explore the topic from a biblical standpoint. Since I was in a rush, I absorbed a great deal in a short amount of time.
Endurance.
Perseverance.
Steadfastness.
They suck.

I learned a couple things, that I may, or may not, apply.

One, is that Patience, like Courage, can only be applied when you don't feel it. When you are scared, but you do when you ought to anyway: That's courage. When you want to get out of a particular situation, yet you chose to remain: that's patience.
Webster said that patience is when you continue without complaining, which seems to be the hard part.

Two. In the bible, patience is frequently addressed hand-in-hand with anger. It occurs to me that the two are related. I'm pretty smart at making connections that are obvious. When I allow myself to grow impatient, I am basically feeling that an injustice, of sorts, has been done me. My reaction can then fall under a variety of names, "Frustration" "Irritation" "Impatience". They are fancy words for anger.

I don't think this situation is moving fast enough, or I don't have what I want, and so, like a two-year-old, I throw a little fit. It's very lady-like.

But, there's really not much choice, is there? Therein lies the rub. One can bitch and moan, or one can exalt in contentment. As my Mother says, "You can make this easy, or you can make this hard," but you have to do it.

And so, with the authors of Scripture, we find that the progression of trials, is as constant as the seasons.
Trials bring opportunity for perseverance, Perseverance works proven character, this takes one further up the ladder toward maturity. And the beat goes on.
Trials also provide opportunity for irritation, which breads a particular character all it's own.
You see what I mean by saying that there's really no choice?