Patience is something that I struggle with on a daily basis. It seems I am always anticipating the next event, and I am anxious for it to arrive. I tend to count the days on the calendar waiting for the day I have marked in red. I tend to live in the future more than I should. As I have gotten older, I have realized that most of us are very similar. We may come in different packages, but our feelings are generally the same. With this knowledge, I am fairly confident that many of you struggle with the inability to be patient and not live in the future. Am I correct? I thought so. The question becomes how do we become more patient and live in the moment?

I read a quote recently that said, “Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.” God wants all of us to be at peace. He wants us to enjoy our lives and realize that every single day is a blessing. We cannot come to this realization if we are constantly thinking about the future and not enjoying the day that we have been given. We can miss out on so many blessings and miracles that we encounter during our day if we are only looking to the future.

It basically comes down to trust. God has a plan for all of us. He will allow that plan to unfold in His time. We cannot do anything to make that plan unfold any quicker than He intends. We truly have to let God be in control of everything in our lives, even the future. We have to be patient and trust that He will lead us to the events that we anticipate in His own time. When we have trust and patience, we will have more peace in our lives, and peace is the ultimate goal for all of us.

I have a prayer that I say everyday. God has given me several prayers to say for different situations, and they have helped me tremendously. The prayer is, “God, bless me with your perfect peace and patience as you lay the path before my feet.” I am trying to say this prayer whenever I am focusing too much on the future and not being patient with how events are unfolding in my life. I truly believe it will help all of us if we will say this simple prayer.

So, you see, I know how hard it is to be patient. We want what we want when we want it, and we do not want to wait. We have to wait, and while we are waiting we have to be patient and have trust. We have to surrender everything to God and let Him be in control. When we do this we will have more peace in our lives, and PEACE MATTERS.

~Dan~