Waiting for Patience at a Bus Stop

While I was headed to the east side yesterday, I found myself at a bus stop. What was supposed to be a four minute turned into ten minutes, turned into twenty minutes, and kept stretching out. And this whole time I kept getting more and more upset. How dare this bus be late, this is interrupting my schedule and embarrassing me and directly impacting my life. And it arrives, close to thirty minutes late, packed like a can of sardines. Or tuna.

As I board, I find a place to stand, and I am grateful to be on a bus, instead of walking. We come to the next stop, and I realize – it’s not just me that was inconvenienced. There were tons of other people. People who were going God-Knows-Where, to work or home, or to class, or to see family, or any number of other things.

This was a great reminder to me. Sometimes in life, we find ourselves in a waiting place, and past the time we think we should be. My former supervisor reminded me subtly this week that sometimes we have to wait for the next amazing thing hats going to change our lives – that taking things too soon or rushing the process is not a good idea.

In this phase of my life, I regularly have to remind myself to stop and remember that good things come with time. Patience has never been a favorite of mine, though. Have gotten much better at it the past few years. And I guess I am getting another lesson in it now.

What skill or trait are you working on in your life?