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.Has that ever hap-pened to you? You took a job that wasn t right for you? Enrolled in a coursethat took too much time away from your family? Tried to solve a problemonly to make it worse? Committed to a debt you couldn t afford? Sometimes,our impatience to get moving sucks us into Jumping the Gun.Jumping theGun is what we do when delays are making us nervous or the decision isn tclear.We get antsy and feel like we should be making something happen.We rush to fill gaps, make snap decisions, or go with what feels good.Themotto of Jumping the Gun could be, Don t just stand there; do something anything! Instead, we should adopt the opposite tactic when faced withthis temptation. Don t Just Do Something; Stand There! Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret.Psalm 37:7In Genesis 15 God promised Abraham that he would have numberlessdescendents, more than the stars in the heavens.But how could that happenwhen he and his wife, Sarah, were childless and getting on in years? Not aproblem for Sarah, being the take-charge woman that she was.Accordingto Genesis 16, she decided to speed up the process by setting up a surrogatearrangement between Abraham and her servant Hagar, who gave birth toIshmael.Sarah subscribed to the Don t just stand there; do something! school of decision-making.Usually, though, when God delays, we re better off to adopt an upside-down approach: Don t just do something; stand there! Delays and road-blocks are often there for a reason.Use the delay to pray.Don t steamrollerover the roadblock.Invite God to stand there with you and learn not tomake a move until he releases you to do so.Another strategy to keep you from jumping the gun is counting the cost.Count the CostBut don t begin until you count the cost.Luke 14:28 LB192 Patience Day : How to Slow DownMost likely, Sarah didn t think through what her decision might cost her.After Ishmael s birth, Sarah blamed Abraham for going along with her plan(he should have known she would!).Hagar and Sarah were locked in bitterjealousy, and the feud of the mothers was passed down to their sons, a fightthat continues to this day between the Arabs and Jews.Scripture says, Count the cost. In the case of Sarah s jumping ahead totake care of God s promise, it caused relational breakdowns, marital discord,family rifts, living arrangement issues, and jealousy.We should not committo a course of action without thoroughly thinking through the possibleramifications.The last way to keep from jumping the gun is to evaluate whether or notyou re in a state of confusion about your course of action.God Is Not a God of ConfusionFor God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.1 Corinthians 14:33 NKJVTry reflecting on your course of action before forging ahead." Feeling confused?" Receiving conflicting advice?" You and your husband don t agree?Our first impulse to act can sometimes be seriously flawed, and it is wait-ing that clarifies what we should do.Consider the illustration from God sLittle Devotional Book for Women (Honor Books, 2001) about the speedboatdriver who was involved in a serious accident.Thrown from her seat andpropelled so deeply into the water that she could not see any light from thesurface, she had no idea which direction was up.But rather than panic, thewoman remained calm and waited for the buoyancy of her life vest to beginpulling her up.Then she swam in that direction.If you re panicking and thinking you don t have peace about a decision,just pause, ponder, and pray.Follow the old adage: When there s confusion,we wait. Wait for God s gentle tug that pulls you closer to him.The waitcould take a few minutes, hours, or even months, but the tug will come clarity will come out of the chaos.Patient people stop before they Jump the Gun, and they rely on God.Patient people also go slow enough to love others along the way, so they reless likely to Indulge Their Pet Peeves.193 Part : The Making of a Right Relationship to OthersINDULGING YOUR PET PEEVESImpatient people tend to let certain things peeve them or get to them instan-taneously.Pet peeves are really nothing more than minor, unannouncedinconveniences and annoyances that are beyond our control.These irrita-tions block our agenda, causing us to get easily irked.The more impatientyou are, the more pet peeves you will notice in your life, and the more will-ing you are to indulge them to give in to being agitated by them.Oh yes, I admit that I have had my fair share of peeves over the yearsand that they have at times been allowed to reign supreme in my life! Mypet peeves would most commonly erupt whenever I felt overly tired, hungry,or cold; or my expectations got blocked; or I was frustrated by somethingbeyond my control
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