Patience is a virtue
I used to describe myself as unemployed. Then I started calling myself a freelance writer. Then, last week, I had a pretty good job interview during which the interviewer as much as told me I’d be hired, once the proper hoops had been jumped through.
So, being the impulsive person that I am, I started looking for one of those big-ticket items that one can acquire only when one has legitimate employment. I went apartment hunting.
The problem, of course, is that I do not as yet actually have the job I have almost been offered. Hoops remain to be jumped through. And apartments seem to require (for reasons beyond my willingness to imagine) actual solid proof of employment. As if anyone else in the financial sector operated that way!
Patience accepts reality as really real
Now, patience is not just the virtue of waiting for things that you have to wait for. It’s the virtue of waiting, well, with patience. That is, it’s holding on to a basic peace and tranquility while waiting. It’s a refusal to become anxious or unreasonably fearful.
In short, it’s accepting the reality that the world does not revolve around me.
Overcoming anxiety with patience
For about two and a half days, I was poring over internet apartment listings, visiting the actual apartments, making lists and budgets and comparisons … and talking to friends and family in hopes of finding some justification for immediate and unnecessary action.
Funny, they all counseled me to wait.
And, when I actually allowed myself to listen to their advice, I found (to my dismay!) that they were the reasonable and correct ones, and that I was letting my desire and anxiety run away with me. I had to remind myself of the facts of the situation. I had to bring myself back down to reality.
And reality, as it so often does, brought me back to peace and set me free from my fears.
I won’t say that I’ve become a patient man. But I will say that I’ve learned a lesson in patience. I am growing, slowly, in the virtue of patience. And I must remember to be patient while I grow in that very virtue.
“And apartments seem to require (for reasons beyond my willingness to imagine) actual solid proof of employment.”
LOL – landlords can’t take the risk that the big banks have been taking for years.
And yeah, you may even want to wait a few months after you’ve gotten that job to make sure that you like it and can save money to move, etc, etc.
“In short, it’s accepting the reality that the world does not revolve around me.”
Also, the world revolves around me, so we need to get that straight.
“It’s the virtue of waiting, well, with patience. That is, it’s holding on to a basic peace and tranquility while waiting.”
Anytime we have to wait for something it’s easy to become impatient, but in recognizing that need for peace and tranquility there is the opportunity to allow God to move in our lives in a new way, since that “peace that passes all understanding” is a gift that God gives and not something we manufacture.
I do think that your apartment hunting is still a good thing. Years ago, during a time that I was waiting God’s direction in a particular situation, I came across a commentary on Acts 1:15-26. The writer noted: “While the apostles waited, they were doing what they could – praying, seeking God’s guidance, and getting organized. Waiting for God to work does not mean sitting around doing nothing. We must do what we can, while we can, as long as we don’t run ahead of God.”
So, do the research, visit a few apartments but also seek God’s peace and tranquility in the midst of it. After all, the virtue of patience is something that God grows in you.
Oh patience…ugh.
I will attempt to maintain peace while awaiting the admissions board(s) decisions. Easier said than done fore me
Becoming a long-term housesitter may be a good alternative to getting your own apartment if your budget is tight. Check out this website: http://www.housecarers.com/