Patience is a Virtue

 Mosiah 3:19 "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

We had a Relief Society lesson  on this scripture a couple weeks ago, entitled "Stick it to the natural man!" The challenge from this lesson was to further one of the characteristics mentioned in this scripture. I decided that I needed to work on patience. Obviously, I did need to work on this because it was found to be tested not too much later. I also had the feeling of needing to contact an old friend I kept on putting it off and saying I would do so over the break.

Well my little tale began on a snowy cold morning in SLC airport. Made it there due to a good friend who was willing to drive the distance in exchange for some fudge. I then made it to Dallas, TX airport to wait for my connecting flight to Greenville, SC. It was a long layover so I was prepared to wait but then I found my flight not appearing on the screen, I continued to wait anxiously to see it appear. Alas it appeared on the screen with a flashing red update next to it CANCELED. Of course that happened right after I had told my Mom that there was nothing to worry about me flying in there despite the blizzard that was forming in that area. How was I to know that there would be a massive storm where I live when it never snows there! I even thought this as I was packing and left behind my serious snow Ugg boots. So then after waiting for four hours as my layover and getting my flight changed for the next day into Charlotte, I got my luggage and headed out of the DFW airport to well...no where. Then I made the effort of calling every person I knew from Texas, unfortunately Texas is a pretty big state and even those who were in Texas would have to make a long trek to come rescue me. There was one dear friend that I knew that lived not too far away from the airport. This was the same friend that I wanted to call earlier but neglected to do so. Well unfortunately she was out of state with her family for Christmas, but it was good to talk to her and I am thankful I was finally able to do so. It is funny how God can intervene in our lives to help us achieve things and bless us by having us do it!

Me and my king size bed!

 The festive geese at the GSP airport.

Just thought it was a cool shot. What can I say I was bored.

After  the disappointment in not being able to see my friend and much phone calling back & forth between my parents and I, we acquired a lovely King size bed at a Fairfield nearby! The patience testing however was not quite complete. I then was dropped off at a restaurant to pick up some much needed sustenance and waited a good hour for my food then another good hour to be picked up again and finally taken back to the hotel. Of course during that time I had left my cell phone in the shuttle that had picked me up and was unable to contact my worried parents. At last though I made it to the hotel. It was a fun, grown-up sort of experience but also strange staying there all by myself. Luckily the next day I was able to switch my flight to Greenville again and flew in no problem. Then I just had to wait another hour or so before my family could come pick me. Thankfully some good friends of ours were kind enough to lend us their four wheel drive so my family could even get out of the driveway to come pick me up. Oh yes there was lots and lots of snow everywhere too, they were not kidding!

Puppy Prints!All the beautiful snow!

   All in all what I hope I learned from all this was a bit of patience can go a long way. I learned that sometimes we cannot do anything about our circumstances but to make the most of the opportunity of having to wait, to face the challenge head on. Being impatient does not help get it there any faster, actually slower. No one is perfect, neither is technology or the weather when you want it to be. It was also said in our RS lesson to remember when your patience is being tested how many times someone has had to wait on you to get something done they needed. So remember the next time you are at the grocery store and the line you have chosen(and are now stuck in) is backed up for some reason to be patient. It could be karma or it could be your opportunity to be kind anyways despite the circumstances or the urge to get upset.