Priorities, Personality, Patience

"A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly." Proverb 14:29

A few weeks ago, my mom sent me a link to a site w/ a 30 Day Challenge... to work on goals, priorities and making them happen. I wasn't terribly excited about it, since I felt like I have things pretty together most of the time and, of course I know everything already (a little sarcasm).

Well, to make a long story a little shorter, I am not so much learning new things as I am putting old information into use.
*I have examined what my priorities are.
*I felt a bit of guilt when faced with the knowledge that 8 out of 10 goals for the next year centered more on ME than on my family.
*I have begun keeping a to do list and feeling a tingle of satisfaction when another "to do" becomes a "to done."

I have also been forced to examine certain parts of my personality that I am not too fond of. I have wondered numerous times why the person I want to be known for is nothing like the person I perceive myself to be.
I want to be selfless and generous, yet find myself behaving like an old miser (minus the millions of dollars old Mr. Scrooge had).
I desire to be known for my quick wit, kind words and open conversation yet find myself clamming up when in the company of others.
I have made it a goal several times to speak positively, and yet find myself nitpicking and complaining.

But there is one area that I think is the root of most of my problems. The dreaded "P" word.

Patience.

I heard long ago, when I was still a child, that you should not pray for God to give you patience unless you were willing to be tested in it. The thought is that when you ask for it, you suddenly find yourself in situations which require oodles and oodles of patience, which you feel you are already lacking.
So I have avoided praying for Patience.
With everything in me.
But the problem I seem to be facing is the more I avoid it, the more I find myself noticing that I need it.

I can't win for losing.


If you would like to sign up to do this 30 Day Challenge, here's the link. It really has opened my eyes to some things I need to work on. And I'm not even half through yet!

"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going."
-Earl Nightengale