Sometimes I wish I had a sign on my back that says “Work in Progress”.
My oldest daughter is learning how to drive. She is actually pretty good at it, but she is new. Many times when students are learning to drive they will be in a a marked car or at least have a sign on the back of it that says something like: “Student Driver, please have patience.”
I can be in traffic and be totally annoyed that something isn’t happening fast enough or that someone is texting while driving because clearly they aren’t seeing that the light is GREEN! Then, I drive past them and they are just a newbie who is figuring out for the first time that they didn’t have to shift into park at a stop sign, they just needed to keep their foot on the break! The moment I see it, I feel guilty for jumping to the conclusion that they are somehow lacking skill when really, they are just learning!
We are always learning new things and it can feel overwhelming. Most of the time, the people around us know this and have lots of patience with us. They can see that we are clearly works in progress.
It’s harder to have patience with ourselves.
Maybe if we had a sign, we could put it up on the mirror in the bathroom, hang it from my rearview in the car, post it by our desk at work, or glance at it while making dinner in the kitchen.
Maybe if we can have patience with others, we could extend it to ourselves as well!
I hope we get to connect soon! Until then, remember that you have what it takes to do whatever God is putting in front of you to do today- like having a little patience with yourself- you’ve got this!
