Thanks for the feedback the other day on my patience talk. I’ve got one more favor to ask of you though. I need help with an illustration though. I think it’s an illustration I want to use in the introduction, a place where I can get us to laugh at ourselves over our natural inclination to be impatient.

I’m thinking of offering it up as a bit of a verbal quiz that would indicate your level of patience. Here are some of the questions I’ve already thought of:

  • As a child, did you ever unwrap your presents early so you’d know what you got?
  • Have you ever read the last page of a book you were reading just to see what would happen?
  • Do you ever repeatedly push the menu button on your DVD remote during the FBI warning and get frustrated that nothing happens?
  • Have you ever pushed the elevator call button after it was already illuminated just to make sure it was working?

I think I want to use this illustration for both the kids message as well as the adult message. Do you have any additional questions? How about some questions that would relate specifically to 4th and 5th graders. Remember, this is creating opportunities to laugh at oursleves, not meant to make us feel guilty.

Also, can you think of any other examples of our impatience that is just kinda ridiculous? These would be things that we do that are a little absurd, but our impatience leads us to do them.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate you crowdsourcing help with this message.