Patience

patience |ˈpā sh əns|
noun1 the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering withoutgetting angry or upset
Patience is not something I am great at. Just ask those who where summer missionaries with me in 2011. I still think Whitney praying for my patience is the reason behind half the issues I had that summer. 
Needless to say it seems that patience is one of those things that no matter how hard I work on it, I still have so much to learn.
Recently I read Tangible Kingdom. It is an amazing book that has not only made me think about my relationship with Christ, to how I relate to those around me. One of the biggest things I realized while reading was how patient we must be with those around me. I cannot have an agenda when I am with those around me. Whether they are Christian or not, my only agenda should be to love them like Christ loved them. 
This concept really hit home when I started thinking about my own life. I was in church pretty much every Sunday from the time of conception throughout my whole life. Yet I did not accept Christ until I was nine years old. 
That is nine years, 468 weeks, 3,285 days, and 78,840 hours of influence about who Christ is before I even admitted I needed Him. If that's how long it took for me, a person who was literally surrounded by people who love Christ with their entire being, those that are not could take so much longer. 
This discovery made me feel two things. First, it gave me an appreciation and awareness for how long this process could take. How much it will require of me, if I am going to be able to have the patience to love someone to Christ I am really going to have to love them. After all if someone is going to be in my life for nine years or more I am going to care about them. 
Second, it is somewhat depressing. To know that for years I may see nothing to show a person even cares about the one thing that has singularly shaped my life. 
I figure though that if Christ can give up his life for me, I can at least give up some of my time to show that love to those around me.