"i invite YOU in": my IMPATIENT PATIENCE

I have to admit, I get frustrated when someone doesn't do something the way I would. And initially, I actually think that my emotional fatigue is justified. I actually believe I have a warrant to be impatient with somebody else's performance…or lack thereof.You'd think that after ALL I have been through that I would be the most patient and understanding person around – especially with others. And the truth is, at times I am; and at other times I'm not. I'm a work in progress and it’s only in recognizing such frustrations (usually in hindsight) that I am making such preparations for the next testing that comes into sight. But that's just it,  pop quizzes—like life’s complexities-- come unannounced and require your current retention to be put to the test.So the question exists:  Am I only patient when it's convenient? Or is true patience only known when the circumstances are inconvenient?I know the appropriate answer and even the compassionate action to this dilemma.  The problem isn't the person not doing things the way I would. No, the problem is how I'm not reacting to the situation the way Jesus would. I may be hard on others, but I thank the Holy Spirit for enabling me to be efficiently harder on myself--not to beat myself up when I fail by way of emotional fatigue. But to build myself up, like David, when I feel I failed in response to the person in need. “Now David was greatly distressed…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (I Samuel 30:6).You see, just because someone doesn’t come through on a task, doesn't mean my standard should cause them to further falter.  Perhaps that is why it is my responsibility to come along side such persons and be their advocate -- not their adversary. And like the Holy Spirit does for all of us, be the training wheels to their “bicycle”, not the flat to their “tire.”