Patience Really Is a Virtue

It seems like our life has been on hold for a while. Waiting for this, waiting for that...as I've struggled to figure out why Heavenly Father continues to teach us this lesson over and over again,(we thought we had it down with the infertility thing--Haa! There was so much more to come, and probably still more!)I've found peace in really trying to have faith in God's plan for us. At our church's General Conference, there was a talk on patience that I felt was written just for me.

Elder Robert C. Oaks said, "Patience may well be thought of as a gateway virtue, contributing to the growth and strength of its fellow virtues of forgivenss, tolerance, and faith." I totally get this. For years in my health class I taught kids about the gateway drugs: alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. I get the concept. I believe in the concept. The more patience I can have, the more forgiveness, tolerance, and faith I will have--the more charity I will have, thus, the more Christlike I will be. I like this. It's something I can really work on that's manageable, but will have great consequences.

My impatience draws me away from the Lord. Elder Oaks went on: "Elder Neal A. Maxwell linked patience and faith together when he taught: "Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best--better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His." I really shouldn't even pretend that I know better than God. He knows me better than I know myself, and He loves me, so I will trust in him and His plan, even though I don't understand everything right now.

I'm choosing to be happy in the moment. Where I am right at this time. I can live with not knowing. Look at all I have to be thankful for in this picture alone!