James (Ole Camel Knees) concludes his epistle with a discussion of patience and prayer in the face of adversity. Patience is not a well regarded virtue these days. Just about the only time you’ll see it lauded is during a football game (that’s real football not some ersatz game with grown men in short pants playing kickball). You’ve heard the announcer on TV talking about the quarterback being patient waiting for the receiver to open up or the running back being patient waiting for his blockers. Its ironic that this patience takes so little time that its occurrence may be easily overlooked by the casual observer.
Mostly, as Americans, we don’t want to be patient. It is certainly in short supply in my life. I’m looking for the shortest line in the grocery store. I don’t want to wait for anything (not even for football season, I’m seriously Jonesin’ for some football right now). Service is always too slow. The internet is too slow. Traffic is too slow. I want what I want and I want it right now. It took a month and a half for the bank to approve and close my fast track mortgage refinance and I spent at least a month of that time yelling at them to go faster.