I think worry is something that all of us have in common. At least I wrestle with it, but maybe you don't. Or maybe you're like me, it's a lifelong struggle.

However, a new realization has dawned on me in 2021 thanks to some things that I've been reading, thinking, and praying about is that I am starting to call my worry now by a different name: a lack of patience.

What patience is at the core is the willingness to suffer. Worry for me is proving to be the unwillingness to suffer. As we know patience is a fruit of the Spirit and it means long suffering; or more accurately put, the willingness to suffer. It's described as a direct result of hope because they go together. With hope being anchored in the knowledge of Christ, you can look at your Bible and read Romans 5-8 to see it all there.

However, you start to realize something that if we're willing to endure whatever the inconvenience is, whatever the frustration is, whatever the suffering thing is, if we're willing to ask God to help us with that, we begin to develop a willingness to go through it. Once that attitude sets it, the lack of patience starts to dissipate.

One of the things that helps me is to remember that while we might find temporary comforts and temporary solutions in the here and now, we're really not a people of the here and now. Our hope is not in the here and now, our hope is in the future. Our hope has always been in eternal life with Christ. So the next time you are going through a moment of worry, ask yourself this:

Is this a lack of patience?

If so, ask God for the grace to handle the situation because he always gives grace to those who want it.