When my oldest was still a toddler, my husband and I realized we needed to spend some time with her working on her patience. Like most parents, we scoured the web looking for any tips or book recommendations that would help us and found a book called Waiting is Not Easy. I have thought of it often over the years but it has been at the forefront of my mind more prominently in the last several months, as I have found myself feeling like I am in a constant state of waiting. Whether it is related to my physical health or simply knowing “what’s next”, I keep telling myself that I just have to wait. Most recently, the concept of waiting came up as I was discerning my word for 2025.

For the longest time, I thought waiting and having patience were almost synonymous but after researching the definitions of both (thanks, Merriam-Webster), I’ve realized that, while they may seem similar, they are vastly different. Waiting means “to remain stationary in readiness or expectation; to pause for another to catch up. “ Being patient, on the other hand, is “bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint; manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain; not hasty or impetuous; steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity; able or willing to bear.” After seeing those two definitions in black and white, I see that the act of waiting is part of what I have to learn to grow in the virtue of patience.

Have Patience with All Things

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.” St. Francis de Sales, one of the great Catholic Saints and the patron Saint of writers, shared this sentiment in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life. I've found myself pondering the juxtaposition of how it is possible to have patience with all things while also having patience with myself. It almost seems impossible at times but God is teaching me that if I don’t have patience with myself first, I will have a harder time having patience with others things. And then I go back to comparing it to waiting.

Waiting requires someone else to do something for us and gives us the choice of whether or not we choose to wait for something but it is done while having an expectation. We can step away and choose not to wait when the going gets tough, but might still have the expectation that whatever we were waiting for will still happen. With patience, the expectation is removed. And we have to be intentional about it. This is how we also grow in relationship with God. So often, we put expectations on Him because of things we want according to our will. But if we have patience, we have learned to leave behind any expectations we have unwittingly placed on God to do for us. We have removed the expectations we put on God and are able to see and do His will. As the Lord's prayer reminds us each time we pray it, “Thy will be done.”

God’s Sense of Humor Prevails

My most recent experience with this came about as I was discerning my word of the year for 2025. After feeling like I was being led towards words like “beloved”, “patient”, or “wait”, God reminded me that all things happen not just according to His will but also in His perfect timing. I had the opportunity to be a guest on our local Catholic radio station’s morning show, The Morning Quest on December 31st. At that point, I felt pretty confident that my word was meant to be “wait”, so much so that I said it during the live segment that morning. Later that afternoon, the mail came and I was excited to see the latest edit of the Journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization Culture.

Romans 8:25 tells us, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.” And then I went back to that St. Francis de Sales quote from An Introduction to the Devout Life, and there it was, clear as day in the very next sentence after the initial quote about having patience in all things: “Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instead set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew.” My word was there all along. I just had to wait patiently for God to reveal it to me not only in His time but with a sense of humor that only makes me want to draw closer to Him.

Have you discerned a word for 2025? I’d love to hear from you. Email me and maybe we can check in throughout the year to see how God is using our words to help us grow in our faith.

God bless!

~ Jennifer