Waiting is probably the hardest thing a person can do. What we want, we want now. That is one reason the fast food industry has become such an enormous success. Taking the time to sit in a restaurant to be served means that some other feature of life is delayed. But if we can eat on the run the possibility of multi-tasking is enhanced.
People in other cultures don't seem to be quite as hasty as Americans. There are still siesta times in some cultures and times in some cultures that seem insignificant. How do we distinguish between being too aggressive and being lackadaisical?
Wanting an event to take place builds anxiety as the days leading up to the event get seemingly longer. Often anxiety leads to stress which causes one to act in a way out of the ordinary. Some stress is necessary in life but too much stress is harmful and potentially fatal. The cause of the overabundance of stress is placing an undue amount of value to a temporal event. The wisest man that ever lived, Solomon, wrote, "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." He put eternity in their hearts means that man was made for eternity. Everything surrounding man was made for time. Therefore, nothing in time will ever satisfy man. Eternal values are what we are to desire.
Given this truth, we wait patiently for the things of this world not allowing artificial values to cloud our otherwise eternal desires. The psalmist said, "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him...do not fret--it only causes harm" (Psalm 37:7, 8).
Patience is a matter of values. If our values are temporal, we fret. If our values are eternal, we sit back and wait.
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