Eager

 When I was in college, I liked a boy. He was an artist. He gave me a just enough attention to stay interested. One day my friend and I were talking to him and he said, “You guys wanna see something I’ve been working on?” 

She didn’t answer, but I said, “I do!” I thought my enthusiasm would be encouraging.

He smirked and said, “Eager, beaver...” 

I was mortified. Immediately the stenographer in my brain jotted down, “Don’t be so eager.” 

My friend scolded him for being insensitive when I walked away. I didn’t have another conversation with that guy until years later when I went to visit my friend. She eventually married him. 

It was a cruel, but important moment. I mean, here I am 25 years later still wrestling with that same tendency. 

I’ve been in plenty of situations that I regretted my eager reaction: a heated text, a sarcastic comment, casting blame without knowing both sides of the story. However, I can’t think of a time that I regretted waiting to patiently.

The antidote to eagerness is patience. Sit on it. Wait and see. It’s difficult. Painful sometimes. Unbearable. But here’s the thing I’ve come to understand. Jesus is in the waiting. Whether I’m waiting for a quick response or a decades long prayer to be answered, He’s in all of it. 

“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:2‬ ‭NASB‬‬

https://www.bible.com/bible/100/eph.4.2.nasb