The first lesson I remember in practicing patience was when I was in second grade. There was a special day when Moms came for lunch and then hung out with us on the playground. I came up with a brilliant plan to show my mom how I could swing across the monkey bars. I decided I would practice skipping one bar and impress her. Each day I worked to build my strength and agility to swing from bar to bar. My hands were sore as the callus formed, but I was determined.

Finally, the day arrived, and I waited for my turn across the bars while my mom stood by to watch. As I grabbed the first rung, I felt a surge of confidence, and instead of reaching across to skip one bar I reached past two and landed myself face down in the gravel. In my efforts to show off I had by-passed the step of patiently practicing to reach a new goal.
The Waiting Game
Waiting is hard. We live in a world of self-indulgence, entitlement, and instant gratification. With fast food, movies on-demand, pre-approved credit, and immediate answers from our friends Siri and Alexa we have evolved into a society who doesn’t like to wait.
Exercising the rare virtue of patience shows the ability to put our desires on hold for a time. Unlike Veronica Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – who wants what she wants, and wants it now!

The very idea of patience can seem unpleasant. Learning to accept what cannot be changed and facing it with grace, courage, and faith is at the heart of practicing patience.
Practicing Patience
I have been practicing patience with my husband. Sometimes small degrees of impatience grow into a full-on argument. During one of those moments of “discussion,” I noticed my heart start to harden and resentment was seeping in. By quickly recognizing what was happening I was able to redirect my thoughts toward the result I wanted. Redirecting my thoughts meant stepping outside of my knee-jerk reaction and examining the situation for what it was.
I attribute my reaction to several things one of which was my effort to practice patience. My initial feelings triggered a warning so I could look at what I was feeling and why: I was hangry and allowing the littlest of things to offend me. Just knowing this allowed me to take a deep breath and reset my patience.
The Patience of the Saguaro
We can learn a lot about patience from the saguaro cactus. It is native to the Sonoran Desert, and a well-known symbol of the southwest with its up-reaching arms and soaring stature. On average a saguaro will grow 1-2 inches over a 10-year period and it’s often 75 years before they even grow their first arm. They are considered to be one of the most resilient and patient of its species.
Riding through the Saguaro National Park I was impressed with these tree-like plants. Their enormous stature stands firm through drought and severe heat. Much like the saguaro, we have the ability to patiently withstand the adversities of life. Our experiences, relationships, and attitude are all a part of what shape us into the person we are becoming. We are not at the mercy of life, but at the helm, as we maneuver our way through. We can choose to react patiently when our gut tells us to hurry.
Choosing to Cultivate Patience
Have you ever considered how the lessons learned from practicing patience teaches us more than just being patient? The process is sometimes more important than the outcome.
The lessons we learn from practicing patience cultivate our character.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Sticking with something until the bitter end may teach us patience, but along the way we learned how to work hard, persevere, and endure. Pushing off immediate gratification helps clarify our perspective and realize what matters most in life. Bridling our knee-jerk reactions may teach us how to respond with kindness when it will do the most good. The practice of resisting an impulse proves our ability to use restraint.

God does not test our patience, he gives us opportunities to show ourselves how patient we can be.” – unknown
Who are you choosing to become? What have you been able to prove to yourself by trying to practice patience? Our abilities are often greater than we realize – we just have to take the time to stand tall as we patiently reach for the next rung.
Stay the course, and enjoy the lessons along the way.
How do you practice patience?

You might also enjoy these:
- Growing in Patience
- How to Love the Difficult Person in Your Life
- Strengthening Your Most Important Relationship
- You Can Handle the Turbulence
16 thoughts on “What Does Practicing Patience Really Teach Us?”
Congrats! You are featured at #WanderingWednesday this week! Stop by and say hi!
Thanks so much! I love Wandering Wednesdays!
I love this! With the way our world operates today, it’s easy to get caught up in wanting everything immediately. I used to be a lot more impatient but since having kids, they’ve forced me to slow down a bit and enjoy the moment and set aside technology in favor of simple moments together.
Good for you, Shani! It is hard to slow down with kids – I’m glad you’ve made it a priority!
This is amazing! Thank you for the reminder of patience! I want it now and I really need to learn not on my time but his time! Thanks for joining us at #WanderingWednesday http://www.confessionsofparenting.com
Thanks for wandering Michele!
Great post LORI. So interesting to learn about the cactus. Patience can definitely be tough. I have learned you never pray for patients.☺️
LOL! When we pray for patience it is the one time our prayer quickly gets answered, right? Thanks for the comment, Annette!
This is so important! And if we are being honest it is something I still have to actively work on. It is great to work on patience with children early. It is a life skill.
Our example of patience goes a long way in teaching our children! You are right it is so important Kim!
Patience is so hard to learn. I have struggled with it all my life and now with technology and our “want it now, get it now” mentality, it is hard to really practice patience.
Technology does make it tough. Thanks, Sarah!
Beautiful thoughts. It has occurred to me recently that (a lack of) patience is behind the thought, “I tried that and it didn’t work.” It didn’t work YET. You just don’t know if it will work next year or 10 years from now. People take a long time to learn, change, develop, etc., and sometimes situations take a long time, too. I’m not naturally very patient, but lately I’ve really been learning that I can’t give up on certain things (or people) because there’s still plenty of time!
I love the reminder of – YET! I’m one of those impatient people who forget that just because something doesn’t work out right now doesn’t mean it won’t be right later. Great reminder, Jennifer!
Great post! Patience is hard, hard work, but worth it.
Jordan, I totally agree!