“You’re the most patient person I know”.

I knew it wasn’t true, of course, but that’s what the man at the cell phone store said to me last night.  People notice how you respond to things that aren’t your fault.

Especially technology things that aren’t your fault.

This was my third trip to the store in 5 days.  They had talked me into a new service that sounded very delightful, but in the end it wasn’t so delightful at all. They hadn’t asked me the right questions to start with, and it wasn’t compatible with another service I already had.  And now we had to try to make it right.

So there I was, once again, trying to smile and breathe and not blame the employee who talked me into that new service.  I shouldn’t have had to be there for the 3rd time. It wasn’t my fault.  And it was pouring rain.  And I really just wanted to be at home, especially after a long day at work.

Part of me wanted to react to this “great injustice” (or at least that’s how I perceived it), but I didn’t.   And in the end, this guy noticed.

I thought about the fact that people notice how we respond to other frustrations in life.  Things that aren’t “our fault”.  Maybe things like singleness, or illness, or any number of circumstances that we didn’t bring on ourselves.

I’m definitely not the most patient person I know.  But I can choose how to respond.

Someone might be watching.  Someone who needs to see what it’s like to trust God when things don’t go as planned.

And maybe my response will make a difference.

Be patient with all.  1 Thessalonians 5:14

The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.  Ecclesiastes 7:8

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.  Proverbs 16:32