I am probably not the person you would choose to teach a lesson on patience.
Patience has never been one of my strongest virtues.
If something needs to be done, I want to do it.
If there's a problem, I want to solve it.
If I can see where we're trying to go, I'd really rather start heading in that direction.
Preferably now.
But I've been thinking about patience a little differently lately.
Because most of the time, waiting doesn't mean nothing is happening.
Usually, plenty is happening.
People are making decisions.
Circumstances are changing.
Problems are appearing.
Opportunities are showing up.
Doors are opening and closing.
And life certainly doesn't stop while we're waiting for one particular thing.
Maybe that's where patience really comes in.
Patience isn't sitting still waiting for something to happen. Patience is deciding how you're going to respond to everything that's happening while you wait.
Some Things Take a Very Long Time
When I opened Tomorrow's Promise, I had a dream that ordinary families would someday be able to choose private education for their children regardless of how much money they made.
I've waited more than 28 years to see something like that become part of Texas law.
I couldn't pass the law.
I couldn't control Texas politics.
But plenty happened during those 28 years.
We educated children.
We trained teachers.
We added programs.
We added buildings.
We made mistakes.
We learned.
We grew.
We changed.
And through all of it, that dream remained.
Now Texas has created an education savings account program that can help make private education possible for families who couldn't otherwise afford it.
Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait for part of a dream.
But I wasn't sitting around waiting for it.
I was building while I waited.
That's an important difference.
Sometimes Patience Means Continuing to Carry Something
For more than 25 years, I handled our CACFP food program.
Did I want to do it for 25 years?
No.
But wanting to hand something off and having the right person to hand it to are two different things.
So I kept doing it.
Eventually, the right person came along and I was finally able to turn that responsibility over.
You would think after 25 years God might have rewarded me with a little empty space on my calendar.
Nope.
I think approximately fourteen other things showed up.
Apparently, there was a waiting list.
But there's a lesson there too.
Sometimes patience means continuing to take care of something because, for the moment, it's still yours to take care of.
That doesn't mean it has to be yours forever.
When the right person comes along, train them.
Trust them.
And let them do it.
That's not quitting.
That's growth.
Sometimes Patience Means Not Making Something the Priority Yet
Today gave me a perfect example.
There's plenty of work to do at our newly purchased YMCA property.
I could probably spend every waking hour over there and still find something else that needs to be done.
But right now, I have other priorities.
We're preparing for Lasso Your Imagination.
We're getting ready for a Texas Rising Star review.
I have staffing and leadership issues that require meetings and attention.
And there are plenty of other things happening that don't disappear simply because we've bought another building.
So the YMCA can wait.
That doesn't mean I'm abandoning it.
It doesn't mean I've lost excitement about it.
It simply means:
Not everything important has to be important today.
Then something happened.
Free help showed up.
Just for a few hours.
Suddenly, the circumstances changed.
So we worked on the YMCA.
I didn't need to make it my number-one priority.
I didn't need to rearrange my entire life.
I simply needed to recognize that a small opportunity had appeared and respond to it.
Then I went back to the other things that needed my attention.
That's patience too.
Sometimes patience is knowing when to wait—and still being ready to move when the opportunity appears.
Patience Requires a Response
I think that's the part of patience we don't talk about enough.
Life doesn't politely stand still while we're waiting.
Things keep happening.
So we have choices to make.
Do I react immediately?
Do I get angry?
Do I force something because I'm tired of waiting?
Do I give up?
Do I change direction?
Do I take advantage of the little opportunity that just appeared?
Or do I recognize that something can be important without requiring my attention today?
Sometimes the most patient response is to keep working.
Sometimes it's to wait another week.
Sometimes it's to have the difficult conversation.
Sometimes it's to let somebody else take responsibility.
Sometimes it's to say no.
Sometimes it's to say yes.
And sometimes it's to recognize that you just received three hours of free help and go use it.
Patience isn't the absence of action.
It's choosing the right action at the right time.
You Don't Have to Solve Everything Today
This may be the part I need to hear most often.
When several things are happening at once, it's easy to treat all of them as emergencies.
They're not.
Something can matter without needing to be handled today.
Something can be a priority without being the current priority.
A dream can still be alive even when you're not actively working on it.
And a problem doesn't always require an immediate response simply because somebody else wants one.
That last one has taken me a while.
Sometimes the wisest response is:
"I'm going to think about that."
Or:
"I need more information."
Or:
"We're not ready yet."
Or simply:
"Not today."
Patience gives us enough space between what happens and how we respond to make a better decision.
Your Challenge for the Week
This week, when something happens that demands your attention, don't automatically give it your reaction.
Ask yourself three questions:
Does this actually need a response?
Does it need a response from me?
Does it need that response right now?
Those three questions can save an amazing amount of time, energy, and frustration.
I probably need to write them somewhere I can see them.
God May Be Filling Your Toolbox
I've said before that when I look backward over my life, I can see something I couldn't always see while I was living it.
God was filling my toolbox.
I just didn't know what I was going to build yet.
Some of those tools came from education.
Some came from jobs.
Some came from people.
Some came from mistakes.
Some came from responsibilities I carried much longer than I wanted to.
And some came from having to wait for things I couldn't control.
That's why I'm becoming more careful about deciding that something isn't happening simply because I can't see the result yet.
Things are almost always happening.
I just may not know what they mean yet.
Maybe circumstances are changing.
Maybe another person is being prepared.
Maybe I'm learning something I'll need later.
Maybe the answer really is no.
Or maybe it's simply...
not yet.
Final Thought
Maybe there's something you've been waiting for.
Don't assume nothing is happening.
Look around.
What is happening?
What has changed?
What opportunity has appeared?
What responsibility still belongs to you?
What can finally be handed to someone else?
What needs your attention today?
And perhaps most importantly...
What doesn't?
I've waited more than 28 years for one dream.
I carried one responsibility for more than 25 years before I could hand it off.
And today, something I'd decided could wait suddenly got a few hours of my attention because the opportunity appeared.
That's life.
Things are always happening.
We don't control all of them.
But we do get to decide how we respond.
Maybe that's what patience really looks like.
Not sitting still.
Not forcing the timing.
Just paying attention, doing what is ours to do, and trusting God enough to know that everything doesn't have to happen today.
References
- Sharma, Robin. The Everyday Hero Manifesto. HarperCollins, 2021.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1.
- Proverbs 16:9.
- James 1:19.
- Galatians 6:9.
- Psalm 27:14.
Remember... life isn't changed by one big decision. It's changed by the little decisions we make every day. Today's small choices become tomorrow's legacy. So choose wisely, love deeply, keep learning, and keep growing. Until next Monday, have a wonderful week... and keep building your legacy, one small choice at a time.