Gracious Waiting

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Impatient dominates. I get so frustrated as I wait for my children to do something I have asked them to. I ask them again and again and yet they need more time than I have allotted and need more time than I expect. Possessing a pretty strong internal time clock I have expectations of how long something should take. Wait a minute … these expectations are of how long it takes ME. Shoot … I have got to slow. it. down. They need a break, they need for me to have real expectations and they need me to graciously wait.
  
    My children, and others, need me to graciously wait. To wait as they climb into the car, as they brush their teeth, as they eat, as they speak, as they pull out of a parking space, as they walk, as they learn and as they grow.

    I have grown accustomed to quick service and immediate results to my requests and sometimes I am just mean. Yet God calls me to slow down, to wait, to watch and maybe even enjoy another’s pace. I miss out on so much as my unrealistic expectations lead and I withhold grace.

    How will you offer someone grace today? How will you go at their pace rather than your own? 

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**