I remember being told once that the one thing you should never ask God for is Patience!
After saying a prayer asking God to help you to develop more patience, you can pretty much guarantee that will be the day that your car will die on you, the baby/dog/co-worker will get sick, traffic will be ridiculous and last minute urgent projects will spring up all over the place.
Basically it is a theory that says that if you ask God for patience, the only way He can help you develop it is by putting you in situations that cause you to exercise it, so you are going to get screwed with for a while until you start acting out your patience.
That is why, yesterday, when I sat down to go over my Novena for the day (which I haven't missed a day of yet, thank you very much) I got a little nervous when I saw the reflection for the day was on patience.
Yes, St. Rita had incredible patience. And yes, I do see where it would be beneficial for me to pray that God would help me to be patient while I wait for a husband. But every time I go to pray that prayer I still have this little voice in my head that says "Don't do it! Don't say that word! If you do you know you are never going to get married!"
At the same time that seems so ridiculous. Do I really picture God to be this puppet master type being that is just waiting for people to pray for patience so that he can get his kicks in? Of course not!
So, in the end I do need patience. People who enter into relationships without patience are the ones that end up married to Mr. Right Now as opposed to Mr. Right.
Do I believe in Mr. Right?
Yes. I have to.
I've waited this long, I have to believe it was for a reason.
I have to believe that some where out there is a guy who is Catholic but is also for gay rights and a woman's right to choose, he makes good money and dreams of living on the east coast, he'll like all of my friends and want to stay home every now and then to re-watch Miracle.
Yep, he's out there some where. And until he finds me (or I find him, whatever) I guess I'll just have to be...patient.
Good job on the novena so far!
ReplyDeleteAnd just remember, sometimes Mr. Right doesn't check off every box we have in mind. Have PATIENCE in case you fall in love with someone who doesn't exactly meet the above paragraph. I believe strongly that marrying someone with similar beliefs is key to happiness, but Aaron and I don't see eye to eye on every issue (possibly the biggest difference is our view on gay marriage- I'm in favor, he's not, and I'm not a fan of government conspiracy theories, and Aaron tends to be fascinated by them). Remember everyone experiences life differently, and while you can't always change someone's mind or opinion, sometimes you can change someone's heart.
P.S. I am choosing to have patience with your CAPTCHA/word verification, even though I despise it. ;)
I second Kate's patience comment with word verificaiton. Also, I LOVE this post! And I will pray for you to have patience too. :)
ReplyDeleteOy vey. Knowing what you went through on Saturday night makes me think that whoever told you about not praying for patience because then God will test your patience might have been correct! Yikes! But I do think that patience is a virtue. I really believe that it's right up there, pretty darn close to kindness. And I think in the society we live in, it's becoming harder and harder for lots of people to be patient. But I personally try to be patient in everything that I do, whether it be dealing with my son or waiting in line or anything else. And I think being patient makes people calmer and kinder, as well. I mean, people who can wait patiently in a long line often seem a lot more peaceful and happy than those who can't. And yes, patience is definitely something you need when it comes to any relationship, especially marriage. But if you're worried about praying for patience, maybe a way to get around that is just to practice patience at every chance you get.
ReplyDeleteGod only gives you what he knows you can handle. Even if it doesn't seem like you can handle it at the time.
ReplyDeletePatience is probably the hardest thing for anyone, ever.
Your Mr. Right is out there somewhere.