One of the character traits that one notices, when observing the lives of the messengers of God, is an abundance

of patience. But what is patience? Firstly, let's describe what it is not. Patience is not tolerance. Tolerance is an ability to accept the conditions that exist, or that are foreseeable or understandable. We are tolerant of certain people, until we can no longer tolerate them, then we remove them from our circle. One can be tolerant of the behavior of a child, until we snap and lash out or seek professional help. One can be tolerant of our elder parents, until our tolerance wears thin, and we have them put into an adult home. So for the sake of this discussion, tolerance is our limited ability to control ourselves, depending on our internal stamina and external forces. Sometimes we can be tolerant for a very long time. This is much different than patience. Patience is relying on God's timing. One can go through various hardships in life and not become depressed nor anxious nor fretful because of a trust in God. This is patience, where reliance on God is first; and external influences and internal struggles submit to the timing of God. There is no measure of this divine quality that people can possess. There are no charts, no studies, no self-help groups. Patience comes from God. A gift to those who turn to Him. As the Children of Israel were standing at the Red Sea, and Pharaoh was in pursuit; some of the Children of Israel turned to Moses and blamed him for their troubles. These people had been tolerant of the trials and tribulations that they had endured in leaving their only home. They followed Moses because he has promised them freedom from Pharaoh's tyranny. But now they were standing with the sea in front of them and the army of Pharaoh fastly approaching. They were obviously going to be slaughtered and they expressed their lack of patience by blaming Moses. They never had patience, they had only had tolerance and that had worn out. Moses, on the other hand, was patient. He knew that God had a plan. He knew that God had not forsaken him. What went through the mind of Moses? Only God knows. He may have been shaking in his boots or internally sweating bullets. But his attitude and his response was one of patience and conviction. He calmly and with clear authority said, "My Lord will rescue us". Because of that firm conviction, God revealed to Moses to strike the sea with thy staff. The sea parted and the people were saved. In this day and time, with conveniences all around us, we have lost that aspect of patience. We have tolerance, but that changes with every Zigby poll, depending on the latest headline, or interest rate, or dealing with our spouses problems. Patience comes in trust in God. Knowing God is in control He cared for us when we were in the wombs of our mothers, and He has not forgotten any of us. If we learn to regain that trust in our Lord, it will solve most psychological and societal problems. Not necessarily a recipe for world peace, but definitely a panacea for what ails the human soul. In Islam, we learn that the reward for patience is paradise. There is an internet story I read some years ago. A man and his grown son were sitting in the park. The father asked "What is that?" The son said, "A bird". After a few moments, the father asked the same question, and the son responded with the same answer. After a few more moments, the father asked the same questions, and the son began to grow impatient in his responses, until he eventually began to sceam at his father. The father calmly took out an old piece of paper. It said, "Today, my 3-yr old son asked me about the same bird, 25 times, and I did not scream throughout his questioning."

We all need to reacquaint ourselves with patience.