"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" It's not just children of a certain age who ask that question, although they certainly do. I've been on a number of trips in the past few years with delayed flights, missed connections, and lost luggage, where I've been the one asking the question. Leading up to Christmas (or a birthday or wedding or trip to Disney World) the question becomes one of time rather than distance: "Is it here yet?" On such occasions, we give advice that sounds very much like that in James 5: "Be patient, therefore, beloved ..." or as my mother used to tell us "Patience is a virtue." But we need to remember that — as with so many other attributes — everything that passes as patience is not necessarily Christian patience.

Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" of late twentieth-…