Patience

I am always amazed at my own lack of patience when it comes to rude drivers, people who do crazy things, and well, just plain stupidity. I have to continually work on that. I fall very short of the mark to say the least. In customer service it used to be a nice commodity, but now it is an expectation. In our "instant" society we expect everything now and when we are not provided with it we have a dim view of that particular service provider. It was evidenced during my last grocery store trip. I picked up 2 items and when looking for a check out, I picked the line that my friend was working (she is a checker). It happened to be the longest line and the woman in front of me had a ton of groceries and her own bags. The other lines were moving faster and the express lane didn't even have a line. I didn't want fast, I wanted to say hi and talk to my friend for a minute (the minute that we're "allotted" to make small talk to the cashier and then go on our merry way). I was first approached by a front end manager who said "you only have two items, don't wait here, come to the express lane". I thanked her and said I was fine. Then, a few minutes later, the other front end manager said "ma'am, you only have two items, every other line is available" to which I replied "I'd rather wait, thank you". Quite funny how self imposed waiting makes so many people uncomfortable. I was thinking about the scripture "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" Isaiah 40:31. It is kind of like the self imposed waiting I had done. I knew I wanted to talk to my friend, but the only way it was going to take place was if I was her customer. I was willing to wait for it. I wanted to because I desired to talk to her. Do I desire the renewing of strength that comes with the waiting on the Lord? Not nearly enough. Lord, help me to wait on you today!!