Pizza Hut

Patience is one of the most difficult concepts to come to terms with.

For me, though, patience has never been a problem. I am used to having to wait, save, work hard, and be accepting of the fact that not everything in life is meant for me. Some things in life are just out of reach. And for many of us this is a problem.

I was telling my middle daughter the other day that when I grew up we didn't have the same opportunities that she has been given. I had a different understanding of life than she does and that difference has mostly to do with patience.

I remember when I was about 10-11, our town got a Pizza Hut. This was huge, because it meant that there was somewhere to go out to eat other than fast food (yeah I know Pizza Hut not fast food---haha) but back then Pizza Hut was a sit down restaurant.

Yet, for our family it didn't make any difference that Pizza Hut came to town, because our family couldn't afford McDonald's. Pizza Hut was just one of those things that was out of our families' reach. (Just like going to the movies, or out for ice cream, or going on big expensive vacations). Some things weren't meant for us and I came to accept that was okay.

My kids don't understand the idea that going out to eat is treat. My kids believe going out to eat is a common everyday event.

But this mindset doesn't end with going out to eat. Too many things in this life are taken for granted. If you dream it or wish it,...it's going to happen.

And whatever you dream or wish can happen in the snap of a finger because you desire it.

I think if there is one thing I could pass on to my children, it's patience.

Not everything has to happen yesterday and the best things in life are the things we have to wait to happen.

I remember when I was about 13 my parents decided to take us to the Pizza Hut...just because. I still have that memory lodged in my brain because here we were like every other family. Sitting down to a meal in a "high end" restaurant.

I so much appreciated that experience because it was something I never thought was possible. But through patience I was given a memory that would last forever and even today I can still taste that pizza.

In Galatians 5:22 Paul tells us that one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience. What I wouldn't give if I could witness a new generation come to a place where they welcome patience in their lives.