This is a transcript of a sermon by Nouwen on patience. I read it several years ago, and I have never forgotten it.  I expect you will find it helpful, too. Perhaps Nouwen’s understanding of how fear impossibilizes waiting has been the most instructive for me. Here’s an excerpt:

In our particular historical situation, waiting is even more difficult because we are so fearful… Fearful people have a hard time waiting, because when we are afraid we want to get away from where we are. But if we cannot flee, we may fight instead. Many of our destructive acts come from the fear that something harmful will be done to us… People who live in a world of fear are more likely to make aggressive, hostile, destructive responses than people who are not so frightened. The more afraid we are, the harder waiting becomes.