Patience (Part 2): The Active Practice of Waiting

Patience is waiting with courage, even when the outcome is hidden.

When we think of patience, we often picture stillness—waiting quietly until time passes. But patience is far more than sitting still. True patience is an active practice. It is a posture of trust, a steady choice to keep walking forward even when the path ahead is unclear.

Psalm 37:7 teaches: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” This is not an invitation to passivity, but to faithful presence. To wait with God, not simply to wait for time to pass.

The Qur’an promises: “And be patient, for indeed, Allah does not allow to be lost the reward of those who do good.”(Surah 11:115). Patience here is tied to action—it is the perseverance to keep doing good even when recognition or reward feels far away.

Buddhism elevates patience (kṣānti) as one of the six perfections: the daily practice of enduring difficulties without resentment, and of transforming waiting into compassion.

From Jewish wisdom (Pirkei Avot 4:1) comes this question: “Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations.”Patience is strength over impulse—the ability to stay calm when everything inside us wants to push ahead.

Modern prophetic voices add clarity. President Russell M. Nelson counseled: “The Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that can’t come without it. That effort includes patience with ourselves and with the timing of the Lord.” (General Conference, Apr 2020).

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland added: “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” (General Conference, Oct 1999). Patience is trusting that God keeps His promises, even if their fulfillment takes longer than we hoped.

Rainer Maria Rilke, the poet, captured it this way: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.”

This is something I’m actively working on right now. As my husband and I anticipate his military retirement in about five months, all the years of “hurry up and wait”—waiting for orders, waiting to move, waiting to feel settled—feel compounded into something much more overwhelming. The unknowns seem bigger, looming larger overhead. And yet, despite these very real feelings, the lessons I’ve learned through it all rise up and bring a measure of peace amidst the chaos. The hurry and the waiting have become, in their own way, tutors of patience.

Patience, then, is not simply waiting. It is waiting with faith, with courage, with a willingness to keep showing up even when the outcome is hidden. It is choosing peace in the process, not wasting the waiting but letting it shape us.

Patience doesn’t remove the ache of waiting. But it transforms the ache into trust, and the waiting into sacred ground.

Reflection Question: How might you transform your waiting into an active practice of trust this week?