Patience is a Virtue, But I Don't Have The Time to Explain It.

You have run into the store to pick up something really quick. You find it right away and head to check out. The self-check out line is too long.  You glance over to the Express Line. It's packed too. You start to walk down the row of checkout lines, when an attendant says, "I can help you here sir." How awesome is that? A new line is opening right in front of you. Perfect. You'll be out of here in no time. Then it happens. "Sir?" The attendant asks, "Did you see the price for this item? It doesn't have a tag." 

Then everything falls apart. You do your best to not fidget or squirm as your patience fails you like a poorly packed parachute. They do a price check, but Sam from produce brings the wrong item. You are seriously asking yourself whether or not you should just forget that item and come back when you have more time. Because it is taking all together too long.

You finally get to your car and find your heart rate returning to normal. As you speed home, and check your email on your phone as you go, you think to yourself, "That whole trip to the grocery store only took 15 minutes. Why was I upset that I couldn't do it in 10? Do I really have the patience of a 3 year old?"

Welcome to my life the past few weeks. I promise I have not been harassing Grocery Store Attendants. Although I can't make the same promise about checking my email. The lesson that I keep having brought up to the forefront of my life is patience.


Almost 3 weeks ago now, tragedy struck my life. I broke the screen to my I-Phone leaving Target. The ironic thing was that I just bought a new case for my phone at Target when it broke.  You can ask my wife though, I reacted with poise and grace.  I took it like a man. In fact, she didn't even know I had broken it until almost a half hour later.


I knew my insurance on the phone was expired, but I still wanted to talk with AT&T about my options.  So while we were still out driving around I talked on my damaged phone with Customer Service and learned that they really didn't have any viable options under $200. Unless I waited until February. That was NOT the answer I was wanting.


And as if our evening wasn't exciting enough, I had to put Customer Service on hold for a minute. Actually I told them I would have to call them back. Because our car was spinning out of control getting onto 275. Yeah that's right. Alicia had hit some oil or something, and now my pregnant wife was screaming and clutching the steering wheel for dear life. "Yeah, Tony, thanks for all the info, but I'm going to have to call you back. I might be dying shortly." 
Thankfully we stayed on the road, and the car was fine. Once the traffic eased up on the on-ramp, we quickly turned the car around and headed home.


After we got home, I began checking out my options. Did I need to give up my I-Phone and settle for a phone that only made phone calls? Did I just need to live with a cracked screen until February? I got some advice form some friends and watched a bunch of Youtube videos of people replacing their screens.  After convincing myself that I was capable of such a feat, I found a great deal on Amazon for not just a replacement screen, but all the stuff I would need to replace the screen. I went ahead and got it and the waiting game began.


The waiting game is still going on. USPS lost my delivery. The company I bought it from didn't even realize it until Tuesday. They were real nice about it though and refunded my  money. My screen was still broken though. Thankfully after talking with them, they decided to give me a new screen for free because of the inconvenience of waiting for 2 weeks only to find out it wasn't coming. Still, I won't get my screen any sooner than this weekend.


My first thought after all of this is thankfulness. How blessed am I, that the things I have to learn to be patient about, are grocery store waiting lines and broken I-Phones. On top of that God has blessed Alicia and I with the biggest patience grower ever: We are going to have a baby! Pregnancy is a 9-month lesson in delayed gratification.  The patience I have to learn is over silly stuff. Small insignificant things that don't matter in the long run. Hopefully I grow and go further in my walk with God as a result. Maybe I can get my phone fixed too.