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A few days ago, we returned from our vacation to Disney. Ten days (several of which were extensions due to Hurricane Sandy) of fun, parks, park lines, food from around the world & learning. Seriously.

How can one go to Disney & not learn when the lessons are alive & right in front of you?

Lines.

They are everywhere.

Each ride has a line. Some longer than others. Some keep you moving. At times, you stand still. Some are entertaining. Some boring as all get out. But wait you must if you want to get to the ride of your choice.

And each line is telling…..

It tells us of either the patience or impatience of those around us. I think if we were to define patience for ourselves, without any help, most of us would say it is the ability to wait. That is true. But not complete.

Patience, as defined by dictionary.com, is “the quality of being patient, at the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.”

Did you catch it? It is the ability to endure irritation, provocation, annoyance, or pain WITHOUT complaining, losing our temper, irritation or the like.

I wonder how many of us truly can pass that test?

I read this quote by Chuck Swindoll while on vacation….

It occurs to me that I’ve never met anyone young & patient. We’re all in a hurry. We don’t like to miss one panel of a revolving door. Patience comes hard in a hurry-up society. Yet it’s an essential quality, cultivated only in extended periods of waiting.

Or as the King James Version states it & there are times the King James Version still says it best……….

“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”         (James 1:4).

Today may we each let patience have her perfect work in us – without complaining, without losing our tempers, without irritation, without being annoyed.