Patience and Faith

This morning I read an article called 'The Power of Patience' by Robert C Oaks. He says in it that patience and faith in God are strongly linked. I never thought about patience this way - I never thought that lack of patience might indicate a lack of faith. But it does make sense. If I have faith in the power of God to save, and in the atonement, I will not condemn my neighbor, or my child or my husband. If I have faith in the promises He has made to me, that I can do all things through Him, I will not become discouraged and impatient when things are hard or are not happening on my timetable. If I trust in His ability to save and I am doing my best, I don't need to be fearful and impatient with myself when I stumble - I can trust that He knows my heart and seek forgiveness quickly rather than beating myself up for taking soo long to become perfect! I think much of my impatience with others stems from impatience with myself, not having faith that God is working His purposes in me and I will become all I am meant to be in time. I don't see the fruits yet so I have a hard time believing they will come.

I do the same with my kids sometimes. Instead of looking forward in faith to a blessed future for them, I see their little mistakes and worry that they are starting down the wrong road and might never come back. If I could have more faith in their innate goodness, in all they can become with God's help, I would parent more out of love than fear. Our interactions would be trusting and joyful more often. I could deal with the little shortcomings and missteps in others and myself. I am seeing more and more how Faith, Hope, and Charity (which could also be called patience and many other things) are all one and interconnected. If I want any of the three, I have to work on the others. If I gain one, I also start to gain the others because of it. So maybe I will start praying for an increase of faith rather than praying for patience.