MAKING PATIENT AND WISE DECISIONS

Wendy is an enthusiastic woman with a quick wit. She tends to be impulsive, but she realizes that about herself. She needed a new car and mapped out her strategy for buying it. She was determined to get the best deal she could, and she wanted to be practical and logical in this big purchase, buying something she could afford. Under no circumstances would she be pressured by a salesman or swayed by a promotion.

Then she saw “the car.” It was the one catching everyone’s attention as it moved down the street. Suddenly, Wendy had to have that car! But it was in high demand, and they weren’t coming down on the price. She knew she should walk away, but she envisioned how she would look driving that car. She thought she deserved the car and that she could really be happy if she had the car. Because she had such intense feelings about it, she felt it was meant to be hers.

So Wendy got the car. She also paid full price for it. About six months later, when her finances got a little tight, Wendy began noticing more ads for her dream car—for thousands less than she had paid. And its popularity was beginning to fade. Regret set in. Wendy knew she had overpaid, and now she was overburdened with debt. A little patience could have saved her a lot of pain.

Impatience poisons all of our lives. The New Testament’s root Greek word translated patience is also translated as “endurance, perseverance, staying behind, patient waiting, and steadfastness.” Our impatience fights all these qualities. Worst of all we become impatient with ourselves. Delay gratification is not in our vocabulary. Howard E. Butt Jr., Who Can You Trust?), 172-173.

However, delayed gratification would save us from debt, regret, hardships and reward us with a peace of mind and contentment.