Patience

When we were young, everything seems like it will come whenever you put enough effort on it. It is not easy but not complicated at all. If you study hard, you get good results; if you practice Kung Fu more, you get the medals on the stage; if you practice running every day, you become the champions on the sports day….. well the list goes on. It is almost guaranteed that there must be something return for the effort you put.

The reality is not like that though. Very often, results take a very long time to emerge. For a very long time, there can be no notable or significant observable achievement. Research is always like that in a way that it often take years to figure out something. Job in workplaces can also be like that, while very often you may not even know what the big picture is, and you don’t know what you have achieved after some probably very routine work. Relationship is more variable in a way that it takes a long time to figure out whether someone you like is really the one.

Somehow we are always told in the bible that we have to be patient. It can be understood literally, but it strikes me when I think about it at this stage of life. I found that I still have to learn to be more patient. While things seem not to work out or nothing has been achieved for some time, I often get frustrated and lose drive. Sometimes I lose my temper, bemoaning and asking why the situation is like that. But when vision is there, I know I have to go for it with all cost without hesitation. The current situation is just something like I must go through and it should not be a stumbling stone that stops me. And…. pray, even the answer is not there immediately. Prayers for years may be normal. Our patience are being trained. Our obedience to His guidance are learned throughout various lessons.

In the past I strive for excellence. Now I rely on Him for perfection.