I earned my degree in Mathematical Science last April. I have been looking for a job as a "professional" for over a year now. I put "professional" in quotes because there are many professionals but I only refer to the line of work that refers to the business or corporate setting. I am looking for a job almost constantly, even when I have other work, and I haven't worked in any job since November. There was a point where I've had to decide to learn patience, or risk wallowing in frustration. As it turns out, this decision must be made every day and I've learned something else through my situation.
Patience is an art and I am not very good at it.
Art is something that we have a natural affinity for. We like experiencing it, in whatever form art (as defined by us) takes. It is something that we are not naturally good at and we must practice to get better at. Some people are better at [enter art here] than others, but they were not born experts or artists. There's a post somewhere on the Internet that's a series of pictures (sorry for no real credit, I don't remember) of an artist recreating his childhood drawings. It's quite amazing to look at, but there's something to take from it. This great artist, who can make terrible drawings look amazing, was the source of those terrible drawings. If he had maintained his skill level up until today, he would not be an artist (he'd draw about as well as I do). My point is that this six-year-old artist does not have the ability of modern day artist, he had to grow and improve.
In the same way, patience skill must be grown. I believe that my current trials are, in part, the result of God trying to teach me patience. And I, personally, don't particularly care for it.
There's an element of comedy in my situation. God's been teaching me patience and I feel like I've learned it, which means I think he should stop teaching me patience, which means that I'm not finished learning patience yet. There's always lessons to be learned from disappointment and picking out those lessons is a skill in itself.
So far, I've had four interviews for jobs that I would say "use my degree". Of the four, two of them involved me leaving the interview with a positive impression moving forward and then I never heard from them again. Complete radio silence. Those situations have been the most frustrating. It's hard to find lessons where you don't know what you did wrong (if anything). These situations work against me and my blossoming patience.
Patience is not just sitting and waiting. It's more of a lack of frustration in seemingly lack of progress. Things tend to work out, the Lord does not leave us hanging. Learning to accept what happens to us is a different skill, but related. If we find joy in our situation, we won't feel the need to be impatient.
All this to say, I'm trying to be patient. My job situation is less than ideal (to put it mildly) and my patience is being tested everyday. But if patience is an art, it takes practice and God is giving me plenty of opportunity to practice it.
I'm not an artist yet.
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