President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: 'Continue in Patience'

An experiment testing the will power 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, he 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 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."