Learning Life Lessons the Hard Way

I hate driving. People on the road just really irritate me.  In fact, my number one pet peeve (in life, not just in driving) is people who drive in the fast lane/passing lane.  This lane is for passing: you get in, you pass, you get out.  It's not a hard concept.  And you certainly don't drive in it if you're driving the speed limit or slower.  It is so aggravating. And it's not just driving.  Doesn't it drive you crazy when you're at the grocery store and you pick what looks to be the shortest line only to watch person after person check out in the line next to you while you haven't moved an inch in fifteen minutes.  It doesn't matter whether you're in a hurry or not, it still drives you crazy.  Or it least, it does me. I'm just not a very patient person.  All you have to do is look at my Dad who has had many more years to develop this virtue than I have and you can see I never had a chance.

So I recently got a speeding ticket and really can't afford to have my insurance go up which means I can't afford to get another ticket and have been pretty much forced to start driving the speed limit.  So now I plan at least five extra minutes to get anywhere I'm going, I set my cruise about 2mph over the speed limit and I just sit back and relax.  I cannot believe how much my quality of life has gone up from this simple procedure. 

Now the scriptures tell us to be a patient about a billion times and God doesn't tell us to do something just to spite us.  If He tells us to do something it's because doing it will make us happy.  So it stands to reason that being patient will you make you happy.  But telling an inpatient person to be patient is like speaking a foreign language.  We don't know how.  Sure, we can put on an outward show of patience, stand in line with smile on our face and all that, but inside we're in turmoil.  The internal storm is raging and it's all we can do to keep it contained (some of us can't even do that) because we just don't know how to let go of our irrational need to have everything as quickly as possible.

I feel liberated.  I've finally been able to let go of that need and it feels great.  When I get home from work I'm not all bent out of shape because of all the morons I had to deal with on the way home.  I sit back, relax, listen to my book, and just enjoy my peaceful ride home.  It's amazing.  Patience really does improve quality of lfie.  Of course, being imperfect and being impatient for the first 30 years of my life, I'm not doing as good at incorporating this virtue into other aspects of my life.  But I finally understand patience a little better and I see what a difference it can make in my life and I'm working on it.  Wish me luck...