A Prayer for Patience, Love and Kindness

Patience, love and kindness is always a good thing when interacting with others. A prayer for these three things is one of my husband’s daily prayers. As a truck driver, patience with others on the road is a daily must.

And indeed, a prayer that’s necessary in my own life. We never know when someone may inadvertently push buttons that trigger unsightly reactions and bring out the worst. The trigger popping up out of nowhere. The self-surprise of a gut response long ago buried with the hope that the untoward reaction was permanently disconnected.

But no, the automatic fight or flight response unfortunately made way to my mouth. The impulse too great to retard.

And then the guilt of unnecessary words.

Followed by the next step to mend fences and apologize.

But despite my follow-up, the baggage continues heavy with guilt and regret. Another reminder of human imperfection and the need for forgiveness.

Thankfully, God does forgive me.

photo of child praying — Photo by Binti Malu on Pexels.com

My goal for the next time, and certainly there will be one, is for my response to be tempered and controlled.

Practice not perfection is nice slogan. An easy way to remember that yes, I’ll get to try and do better next time around.

And thankfully God still loves me, and so do many other kind souls. Grace is a good thing.

Self-punishment is futile and no help in prevention of such trigger-happy behavior. Perhaps paying attention to those red flags of frustration, then adding self-care with a gentle boundary for the unknowing individual.

Lastly, I can ask God to help me with the fruit of the spirit needed for the situation, which includes patience, love and kindness.

Always there is hope for change and improvement ahead. Amen.

Scripture for Today

“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love (unselfish concern for others), joy, inner peace, patience not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5: 22-23 AMP).

Prayer for Today

Father, we humbly come and ask for you to manifest the fruit of the spirit in our lives. Our human frame is weak and these are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Help us to be loving, patient and kind in all of our interactions.