life will turn out exactly as we want it. Businesses and relationships fail; the stock market goes down as well as up. Ultimately our faith asks us to believe that even if it doesn’t turn out the way we wanted, it still is for the best—we

All this stimulation and outward attention has one effect: to make everything a blur and to create a sense of mental restlessness that is the antithesis of patience. David Shenk writes about this in The End of Patience: “As we go to higher info altitudes, where the information moves faster . . . our eyes, ears, and cerebral cortexes have more to

when we see those who challenge us as teachers rather than burdens, our patience instantly grows.

When we believe in a happy future, we can wait more calmly now. This takes faith—in ourselves, our partners, our God, the benevolence of the universe—because we have no guarantee one way or another. We must live as if it will turn out, without knowing precisely how it will end up. And that is not always easy, particularly when there’s a lot at

Not everything can be accomplished through willpower—sometimes what we need is a bit of wait power.

None of us wants to have to suffer through physical, emotional, or spiritual hardships. But when such trials do come—and they most likely will, for each life has its measure of sorrow—we have two choices: to rail endlessly against what is happening or to experience our feelings of sorrow, fear, and anger, then engage our patience and allow the

Through this acceptance of others as they are, and of life as it is showing up right now, we prove our true strength and beauty as human beings. It’s easy to be accepting when all is well. But when we are patient when things aren’t going the way we want, we truly shine as heroes.

“If we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience,” says Romans 8:25.

“When pain strikes, we often ask the wrong questions, such as Why me? The right questions are, What can I learn from this? What can I do about it? What can I accomplish in spite of it?”