Jumping the gun.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "Don't pray for patience, because God will give you something to be patient through"? I have heard this dozens of times. Yet...I still risk it and ask for patience. I desire patience. I need patience. I must have patience!! The problem is...I have difficulty in being patient to get my patience! You follow? Patience- Webster's dictionary's definition: the ability to accept without complaint, as inconvenience or delay God's definition: faith, trust, and perserverance Wow! Can't hide from either of those can I? I definitely don't do well with patience and especially with not complaining about the waiting. Waiting...not my strong suit. It definitely is an inconvenience for me. But...God's reason for the delay is always what I need. Faith and trust? I'm working on those. God is teaching me much about myself and what I can walk through with Him. It's about perserverance...pushing through to the next level. To explain it best, I would have to describe a flower. We see a flower for what it is. We see it's colors vibrant and beautiful. We smell it's aroma as we take in a deep breath. We see it for what it is...the finished bud. But...God saw it from the beginning. He saw the seed, planted it, nourished it, and even loved it. He saw it through all of it's awkward growing stages. The times that it wasn't so pretty and vibrant. The times that it faced rain storms and wind. The days that the flower fell limp from the circumstances around it. But, He kept nourishing and nourishing, til' one day...it was complete. It had grown into it's full potential. A seed developed into a flower. A flower for all to see, appreciate, love and admire. A flower to bring out His glory and His splendor. When you see a flower, do you think of the dirt or the rainy days that it went through to get to it's beauty? No...you only see it's beauty. Do you thank the soil or the sun that helped it grow to it's potential? No...you think of God and all of His wondrous creations. That's the point of our growing in patience. We may go through some awkward moments that aren't so pretty. We may even go through the mud and the muck for a while. And we definitely will experience the rain at times. But when our beauty begins to shine through and we are vibrant and breathtaking...no one remembers how we looked through the process. They only see God's creation. They take us in, appreciating every ounce of beauty that we hold, and then...give God the glory for all of it! Our patience, our perserverance, our faith, and our trust...is all for us to be able to be a beautiful creation of God's, so that HE can obtain all the glory and honor that HE deserves. And the flower...stands beautiful and strong, having already shown it's strength through the winds and the rain. We were so busy looking at our circumstances, that we didn't realize through it all...we were growing...and growing strong! Patience...it produces beauty! One of my biggest hang-ups on my "patience" issue...is jumping the gun!! God gives me a little bit, and I run with it, creating and planning something huge...without even stopping to think, "Is this where God wants me to go with this? Is this what He wants for me?" I jump the gun, and trample all over His plans...because of my impatience. Then...I go a step further, and try to question what God is doing. Not good. Where's my faith? Where's my trust? Where's my perserverance? I should be saying, "Whatever You want Lord. In Your timing not mine. Teach me through the waiting God, so that I may draw closer to You." Boy... am I glad my Father has patience with me!! I need to watch out...by jumping the gun...I might just miss out on being able to see my own beauty and splendor. I might just miss out on where God is bringing me to, through my patience. I might just miss God. So...my new challenge...you guessed it... is being patient. Waiting on God to bring me to my place of splendor for His glory! Dear God...forgive me for not trusting you. Thank you for not giving up on this "work in progress". Thank you for being patient with me when I "jump the gun" on your plans for me. Hold me up when I grow limp through the wind and the rains. Help me to grow and stretch out my arms to You. Teach me through the waiting. And Lord...continue to give me patience. James 1:3-4 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire-wanting nothing. II Peter 1:5-6 And beside this, giving all diligence, and to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness.