We really are very impatient. And this isn’t something new, it’s not a product of modern society. Even Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic philosopher, back in the second century CE, said:

God give me patience, to reconcile with what I am not able to change

Give me strength to change what I can

And give me wisdom to distinguish one from another.

Patience can help us slow down and take a breath. 

And really, what else are we going to do in the grocery line? Being in a hurry will only frustrate us.

Life gives us setbacks and delays. Patience helps us endure them.

Those days when everyone, including your partner or your kids, is tap-dancing on every nerve ending, patience reminds us of why they are in our lives.

No one is born knowing all the answers. Let’s give ourselves the gift of patience. As St. Francis said,

Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself.