WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD...beep beep - you will self-destruct in 20 seconds!

Most of the time I am a very patient person, in fact, I would dare to say that I am far more patient than most people. Some things just drive people crazy! When we go to our local Wal-Mart, there are usually only 2 or 3 check-out lanes open. Have you ever wondered why they have like 15 lanes when they only open 2 or 3 at a time? I try to get in the shortest line possible, but it never fails that the line I always get in turns out to be the sloowest line ever! I learned a long time ago that it does no good to get impatient with this checking-out process at Wal-Mart, because getting mad or irritated never ever speeds up the process.

When my husband is with me (which is a rarity - he hates the Wal-Mart check-out lines!), and there seems to be a hold up in the check-out line, he will go over to another lane. I don't know that this really speeds things up, it has been my experience that when you get impatient and change lanes ... somebody will have a dozen coupons or need a price check, and it ends up taking you longer in the new lane than if you would have just stayed in your original check-out lane.

All of us get impatient with things such as long Wal-Mart lanes or getting stuck in traffic on a rainy day, but what would happen if each time we became impatient with someone or something, we had an alarm that went off and it sounded like this ..."beep, beep - you will self-destruct in 20 seconds!" How awesome would it be to have a warning go off to alert us that we are about to blow up or self- destruct.

Nobody likes to be around an impatient person. Being impatient causes us to overreact in angry, foolish ways that often times are regretted later. Anger almost never makes things better. In fact, anger usually generates additional problems.

Having patience will stop those arising problems in their tracks! Some of us need an alarm to warn us to bite our lip or clap our hand over our mouth before we say or do something that we will regret. A patient person is like a breath of fresh air that keeps foolishness from whipping its ugly scorpion tail all over a room.

In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question: "What are you impatient with?" The top 3 answers were...

1. 54% of those polled said that they become impatient with people who talk on their phone while eating lunch with you. (Amen!)
2. Another 54% voted and said that they are impatient with disobedient children.
3. 27% of those voting said that imcompetent co-workers really makes them impatient.

No matter how big or small the frustration, choosing to control our emotions is a wise choice ... it is a wise choice to be patient with others.

EPHESIANS 4:2 (NIV) "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

What would the tone of your home or your workplace be like if you tried this biblical approach: "See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another." (1 Thess. 5:15)

Next time you are at Wal-Mart in the check-out line, see what kind of a reaction a little bit of patience will make ... who knows maybe you will even let someone go ahead of you in the line!  (((grin)))