Who needs patience!?!

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

I don't know why, but patience seems to get a bad rap. Nobody likes to exercise patience! But do we really understand what this kind of patience truly is? This isn't the kind of patience that you have when you are waiting in the dentist’s office to get your teeth cleaned. This is the kind of patience and resolve that is necessary to finish a marathon race. Our Christian life is a marathon race! It is a race with trials and obstacles that may be difficult to overcome. It really helps me to think of patience this way: patience is standing under pressure. In this life we will have trials, but they won't last forever. We must stand firm, hold on a little longer, we need to be patient and endure the tests we are faced with!