My One Word is Patience.
This week my husband told me (again!) that I was being impatient with myself. He often reads little quotes from his calendar to me. They are usually the kind of sayings that make you stop and think.
This week's quote was:
"If you are in a hurry, patience is the fastest way."
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I took a photo of it because it fits my One Word perfectly. The funny thing is: I'm not sure I fully understand it yet.
I've been coughing and dealing with a sore throat for two weeks now. I would really like to be better already. So how can patience possibly be the fastest way?
Maybe the answer is that impatience doesn't actually make healing happen faster. It only adds frustration to the process. If I keep checking whether I'm better yet, counting the days, and getting annoyed with myself for not recovering quickly enough, I still won't heal any faster.
Patience doesn't speed up recovery. It just removes the extra burden of fighting reality. Or, as ChatGPT would probably tell me:
"When you're in a hurry, impatience makes you run circles around yourself. Patience simply lets you walk straight ahead."
I'm still thinking about that one.
Do you understand the quote?I'd love to hear your thoughts.
PS Read other blog posts about One Word: One Word 2026 May Linkup
Hummm. Now you've got me pausing to reflect on what the quote means. I love that meme of the dog.
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Well, it took some "patience" to sit and contemplate the quote and figure out what it meant, and I think I do understand. Being impatient only adds to our frustration of the moment and keeps us agitated. If we can calmly and patiently work through the situation, we usually can accomplish whatever the task is with less mistakes. Sometimes I just have to stop and say a little prayer and ask the Lord to calm down my spirit and help me to work through whatever the situation is with patience rather than trying to rush through it and end up messing things up and making it worse.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pamela, Aritha. Failing to have patience only adds another unnecessary layer of frustration about what's going on in our lives. Feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting quote! I can think of some situations when I tried to hurry, and only made a mess because I was going too fast, which then ended up taking longer than if I'd gone slower to begin with. ha. I imagine there is more than one way to interpret the quote. I like your line that patience removes the extra burden of fighting reality!
ReplyDeleteI actually LOVE the quote and it reminds me of anticipation in the waiting which I happen to be studying via a little bible app devotional. We can't hurry the process of whatever God is doing in our lives, but we can anticipate the outcome which will help it to seem as though it's progressing (which it is....but we just don't see the results yet) and by trusting God with our waiting (since all things are in His Time anyways!!) we can peace with patiently waiting. Patience is something I have a ton of when I dealt with my little special needs prek students or my own daughters. Not so much for big decisions/answers to prayer, or recovery from a physical or emotional issue.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're feeling better. For my hubby, he has realized his cough and sore throat are due to spring time allergies!!
To me, since I am recovering from surgery and sometimes overdoing things because I'm impatient to get them done and not wanting to ask for help--or wait until someone is available--it means that being impatient only slows things down because it creates little setbacks that add to the length of time it will take me to heal.
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