You ever struggle with that?

I suffer from it most trading and sitting in traffic.

Trading, I think, is about the most emotionally intense thing you can do on a day to day basis (being a soldier and doctor excluded, of course).

Most are unable to set the greed and fear aside and just trade – follow their rules – follow their system – whatever.

My advice to deal with emotions in trading is simple: Automate it.

But I digress.

On patience, sitting in traffic is another story for me.

So, my church delivers apple pies to recent visitors once a month.

“Here is a warm pie. Thanks for coming.” That’s it.

So the whole family is out a few Wednesday’s ago delivering a few pies, and suddenly we are sitting in the car at a standstill.

Just. Sitting. In. Traffic.

You know the emotions that you go through while not moving after a while.

2 minutes: “There better be a fender-bender or something, this is ridiculous.”
5 minutes: “What is going on?! There better be a wreck or something up here!”
10 minutes: “Oh man. I hope nobody is hurt.”

Well, for some reason, I was past all that.

For some reason, I was livid.

Rightly, my wife was rolling her eyes at me.

We finally made our way forward and saw that a broken-down car was blocking all of the traffic down to one lane.

As we approached the right side, we could see inside the car.

It was a young woman behind the wheel, maybe 19 or 20 years old, with a baby in a car-seat in the back.

The baby was screaming and crying and tears streamed down the woman’s face.

Good grief I felt bad as my stomach dropped.

I immediately just wanted to offer her a ride and my cell phone to use – and I wanted to give her a hug.

If another family had not already stopped to help, I would have.

More than anything, I felt bad about my attitude and lack of patience.

I was not bearing fruit, but I am nevertheless thankful for every opportunity that I get to practice patience.

All I know is this: If you pray for patience, it is only a matter of time before you get stuck in traffic.

Be ready.

And be thankful for the practice.