Impatience Will Cost You
I looked at the huge box sitting there. It contained the much awaited copier I wanted. Looking at the box a voice of reason told me to wait for help to lift it to the top of the desk. However, patience has never been my virtue so I didn’t listen. I decided, “Hey I can handle that.”
Flexing my superwoman muscles I effortlessly lifted the copier out of the box (yeah, right). By the time I had lifted it halfway to the desk I knew I had made a huge mistake but I persisted and succeeded in getting it on top of the desk.
However the next day, I could barely get out of bed.
A visit to the doctor,
three days off from work (can’t teach if I can barely stand)
and several weeks of pain brought me to the sad realization that I was not the superwoman I thought I was.
As I lay there in pain I thought about what had bought me to that moment… in a single word… impatience.
Impatience will cost you. It can cost you money, friendships, pain and suffering or any number of consequences simply because impatience is often followed by bad decisions; Case in point, my superwoman moment.
Somehow when I think about decisions in my life it always help to find biblical counterparts who made similar bad decisions had similar experiences. I found a lot, all in one verse.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Exodus:32:1
Moses was on Mount Sinai in the presence of Almighty God. The Israelites had seen and experienced God bringing them out of Egypt, protecting them and providing for them in the desert. Yet when they saw that Moses had been gone a while they became impatient. This moment was followed by a bad decision. The bad decision was followed by even worse consequences.
What I like about the story is that the consequences were followed by repentance then forgiveness. But, wouldn’t it be even better to simply practice restraint, avoid making a decision that we know the Holy Spirit is cautioning us not to make and bypass the negative consequences?
Years later I can still remember those three days on my back and sometimes when I’m tempted to rely on my own strength, or help God bring His plans for my life to pass I remind myself that impatience will cost me. The question is do I want to pay the price?
God bless,
Bernadine
Powerful message, Bernadine. Yes, impatience can cost us deeply – been there – done that.
Good lesson…also good to remember when we’re tempted to open our mouths and tell others to “do” something…perhaps its the right thing to do but not the right timing. Let God be God.
“What I like about the story is that the consequences were followed by repentance then forgiveness. But, wouldn’t it be even better to simply practice restraint, avoid making a decision that we know the Holy Spirit is cautioning us not to make and bypass the negative consequences?”
Well said!
God bless.
Isn’t it neat how God uses every day occurrences to teach us a lesson about relying on Him?! Because of my mindset right, something jumped out at me from the passage you used, so thank you for sharing that. I’m focusing on worship right now and this passage reminded me that we are made to worship….if we don’t worship God, we will find something/someone else to worship, even going so far as building it ourselves.
Great thoughts this morning.
Wow Bernadine, this is a great post!
I think we’ve all been there, let our impatience rule and then have to suffer the consequences later.
Amen to repentance and forgiveness! He makes all things new.
Blessings.
Thanks for sharing.
Great reminder at the apt time Bernadine. Thanks a lot.
I have such a problem with being impatient! I am really trying to control my emotions and not let them control me!
Thanks for the encouragement!