By Kiyaka Brian

As a millennial, patience is one of the hardest virtues to uphold. We prefer having everything we need now and if we realize what we want is going to take some time, we find ways to shorten the duration. Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit together with love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Patience is the ability to wait or keep doing something even though we experience difficulties. The first thing that came to my mind when meditating on the concept of patience, were my lower primary classes. When we learned pronunciations or did math assignments in class our teachers had this virtue. They had to repeat a word over and over again without getting upset at me or my classmates.

Another example of an exercise in patience is when I ride Matatus (public transport vehicles) in Kenya. Most drivers are reckless, overlapping, speeding, and endangering their passengers’ lives in the process just because they are in rush to get to their destination. Worse yet, passengers grumble at the driver if he follows the traffic laws while others are encouraged to go the wrong way to beat the jam. I once was in a Matatu that used a restricted route. As we were about to make it to town we were asked to turn back and use the right route. We basically went back to where we began, and again we grumbled at the driver. The only other options the driver had at that moment were to bribe the police officer to change his mind, or defy the officer’s order and just proceed on the route risking a criminal suite against he and the Matatu Sacco.

From a biblical perspective patience is connected to trust, hope, faith, love, and good character. My all-time favorite verse regarding patience is Proverbs 16:32, “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than he who takes a city.” As young adults this can be one of our downfalls. In the Old Testament, taking up a city was equivalent to present day acquiring of wealth, honor and power. This is evident especially after having been on campus where all that we have been told about life may take longer to come to pass. Patience is key while hustling. Romans 12:12 tells us to let our hope keep us joyful, be patient in our troubles and pray at all times.

The good news is that if we learn to practice patience, we are in a position to experience many other blessings from God. A patient person is mild, gentle, and constant in all circumstances. The real blessing of patience comes not in the waiting itself, but in how we behave while we wait. (James 1:4)

Discussion Question

How can young people exercise patience in their daily lives?