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Learning to Wait

                  I picked the wrong day to go to the post office!

                The line was so long that it started outside the building.  When I finally made it in, I saw the problem immediately.  An older lady was trying to ship several huge packages and she was having a lot of trouble.  First, she could barely lift any of the parcels onto the counter.  Then she could not hear what the Canada Post worker was telling her.  The insurance options were confusing her, and she had no idea what to do with the tracking number she was given.

                As I stood there watching this, I thought, “Oh come on!  There are 29 people in this line, and you are taking forever!  I have better things to do than stand here all day!” 

                Then I overheard the lady say, “I am sending these presents to my grandkids.  They were supposed to be with me this Christmas, but now they cannot come”.  Those two sentences changed everything for me.

                Instead of thinking only about myself, I began to think about what this lady was going through.  I thought about the fact that she might have to spend Christmas alone this year.  I thought about what it took for her to purchase those presents, wrap them, and haul them down to the post office.  I thought about the looks on her grandkid’s faces when those huge packages arrive at their house, and, even better, when they get to open them on Christmas morning. 

                Suddenly, I did not mind waiting as much.  In fact, I would have stood in that line all day just so that this grandma could send her presents.

                Most of the time, what we need is not a new set of circumstances.  Rather, we need a new way to see the circumstances that we are in.  Typically, things go better when I stop focusing on my selfish desires and start thinking about others. 

                Maybe I picked the right day to go to the post office after all!

                “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

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