An experiment testing the willpower of 4-year-old children was used by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf to illustrate his priesthood session talk about patience.
The children were presented with a marshmallow and told they could eat it right away or wait for 15 minutes and then have two marshmallows.
"As time went on, [the professor] kept track of the children and began to notice an interesting correlation: The children who could not wait struggled later in life and had more behavioral problems, while those who waited tended to be more positive and better motivated, had higher grades and incomes, and had healthier relationships," recounted President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency.
"What started as a simple experiment with children and marshmallows became a landmark study suggesting that the ability to wait — to be patient — was a key character trait that might predict later success in life."
President Uchtdorf affirmed, "Patience — the ability to put our desires on hold for a time — is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want and we want it now. Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times, bitter.
"Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action and offers hope for peace."
President Uchtdorf said he learned while growing up as a child in a refugee family in West Germany and having to struggle in school that patience is far more than simply waiting for something to happen. "Patience required actively working towards worthwhile goals, and not getting discouraged when results didn't appear instantly or without effort."
He added: "There is an important concept here: Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can — working, hoping and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our heart are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"
He contrasted it with impatience, which he said "is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all too prevalent condition called 'center of the universe' syndrome, which leads people to believe that the world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role."
President Uchtdorf said priesthood bearers, as representatives of Christ, must serve others in a manner consistent with His example. "There is a reason that almost every lesson on priesthood leadership at some point arrives at the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants," he said. "In a few verses, the Lord provides a master course in priesthood leadership." He then quoted verse 41.
"The character traits and practices described in these verses are the foundation of godly patience and are inseparably connected to effective priesthood and patriarchal service," President Uchtdorf affirmed. "These attributes will give you strength and wisdom in magnifying your callings, in preaching the gospel, in fellowshipping quorum members, and in giving the most important priesthood service, which is indeed the loving service within the walls of your own homes."
President Uchtdorf said the Lord often requires His children to wait. He said God's promises come according to His timing and in His ways.
He said patience requires faith, and that it is "a process of perfection."
"Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most."
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