Recently I found myself praying for patience and then, as an after thought, asking God to give it to me quickly!

This has caused me to wonder. If I pray for patience but am impatient waiting for answer to this prayer, is that wrong? Obviously I am being impatient (and is patience is a virtue I'm picking impatience is not) BUT that was the whole point of my praying for patience in the first place. I've recognised the problem and asked for help, is it really my fault if the answer is slow in coming?

Alternatively, what if I pray for patience and am not impatient waiting for a reply. Would that not suggest that I am being patient and, accordingly, my prayer has been answered. But if I am immediately granted patience is that not just pandering to my impatience and so not really an answer to prayer at all.

It's a good thing I don't have to worry about answering my own prayers because I could go round and round on this one for sometime.

(PS: A lot more difficult then you would think to find pictures of snails on the internet.)