Remember growing up the excitement of waiting for Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Checking each package under the tree to find which ones had your name on them?

At our house, we had to wait until Christmas morning to open gifts. The anticipation of waiting to see if I got what I really wanted was intense.

The patience of waiting a week before Christmas morning, seeing all the gifts under the tree, was nothing less than torture. It was downright agonizing. That whole week seemed to take forever to arrive, and when Christmas morning did get here, it flew by, leaving only a few memorable moments of finally being able to open up the colorful wrapped presents and the thrill of new toys and/or clothes.

I used to think it was cruel for parents to put Christmas gifts under the tree a week or two before Christmas, antagonizing their kids with gifts wrapped up under a lighted Christmas tree.

Over the years, I have come to realize that maybe there was more to that, then I thought.

I will never know if my parents were trying to teach a lesson to my two sisters and me, but we did learn from the experience, whether we wanted to or not. That lesson was PATIENCE.

I heard the phrase many times that “patience is a virtue.” This phrase was first put into the English language in the 1400s in a poem “Piers Plowman” written by William Langland.

The word “virtue,” according to the dictionary, means “the state of moral excellence,” meaning patience is not something that you just have; it’s something that is learned and takes time to develop.

Reading a little about patience was an eye-opener for me, especially when it comes to the younger generation.

Many of the “Gen Z and Millennials” think that if they have to wait for something better, you will just keep waiting and never get it. I can see why they think that, given our instant, want-it-now society. (Another topic.)

Regardless of what the younger generations think, achieving moral excellence will take time.

In Christian life, patience is discussed in both the Old and New Testaments. Here are only two of many from the New Testament: Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

God wants His children to be patient and obedient and to wait on Him.

Patience is one of the hardest things to learn, especially in the world we live in today.

As a young boy, I was taught to be patient, especially at Christmas. Whether or not my parents meant to teach that, I won’t ever know, but it was something that was learned.

Even to this day, even though I perceive myself as a patient man, there is still much learning to do to obtain “great moral excellence.”