When my Keurig isn’t fast enough, I’ve got problems

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I open the handle on the Keurig, pop the pod in, hit the brew button.  While the coffee is brewing in a record 20 seconds, I impatiently tap my finger on the handle of the mug.  No sense in wasting any time, I add the sugar and cream while the coffee is brewing into the mug.

Efficiency at its finest.

My child walks into the room, begins a story.  The story meanders along a leisurely path. Details fill each crevice of the tale, details I probably could do without.  My eyes dart to the sink then the counter-noticing all the things I could do while I listen.  I rinse and stack, pipe in my um-hmms to let him know I’m still strolling with him on this record-long tale.

His eyes stay fixed on my face while he tells the tale.  For him time means nothing.  I should take note.  Instead, I interject my uninvited thoughts, completing his sentences and thoughts, hurrying the pace along.  The story ends, he moves along.

I answer a phone call and know immediately the one on the other end needs to be hurried along as well.  She likes to talk, and the stories drag on.  3 times I catch myself when my tone is impatient in my replies.  I needed time to get to other conversations before we hung up.  We ran out of time.  I hung up frustrated.

Are you with me?  Do you see my problem?  When a Keurig can’t brew coffee fast enough for me, I’ve got major problems.  The moments that make up our days, our existence, they are not instant coffee.  They need time to brew.  We need time to feel the steam on our face while our hands are warmed.  We need to slow down enough to savor each sip the moments have to offer us.  The richness needs to settle in.  I need to settle in.

I need to settle in. I could blame it on technology and modern advances that have caused my impatience. I’m less concerned with what’s causing it than what it is causing in my life.

I can’t change the age we live in.  I can’t change the pace of life and the level of distractions we are bombarded with.  But I can change how I let them affect my thoughts and actions.

The bigger concern is how impatience over time will impact my relationships.

It’s one thing to realize I’m impatient and live in an instant gratification world that moves at an insane pace.  It’s another thing to realize that giving in to the impatience is harming my relationships.

Rushing through my moments because of impatience is damaging the ones I love the most. The impatience doesn’t stop.  It is only one vein that leads to many others.  One such is irritability.  My impatience causes me to feel irritable.  No one likes to be around an irritable person!

My irritation causes me to be snappy and begins a cycle of frustrations caused from unmet expectations- namely because things aren’t moving at the pace I prefer.  It’s ugly.

It’s interesting how things creep into our lives.  They are so sudden and slight we don’t tend to notice until they are fully present in all their heinous glory.

Ephesians 4:2  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love”

Seems a timely verse for me to memorize as we head into the Christmas season.  I could use an extra dose of gentleness and patience so that I can bear with anyone in love.