Mommy Lessson 13 - Have Patience

I’m taking my lesson from a snail I sang about as a kid and having patience. It’s no secret that mommies need patience. Learning patience is easy, just ask God to teach you and He will present you with lots of opportunities to practice patience.

As a mom, there is no shortage of opportunities for practice. As you wait for your little one to do a task they are learning all by themselves, that you could have done 4 times over by the time they are halfway done, you have to restrain yourself and remember patience so that they can learn the task at hand. When you are training your little one not to touch something you have to practice patience as they test to see if you really were serious about not touching that very interesting object that just begs to be investigated. As they get older patience is learned in other ways. I am learning that as my not-so-littles approach that very awkward junior high age, you have to have an overabundance of patience as they deal with the surge of emotions that need processing on a daily basis. I love junior highers and always have; I am so excited that I have one seventh grader and another not-so-little one rapidly approaching that age. But I quickly came to the realization that junior highers need a whole different kind of patience than Little G does as I peal her from the wall when she pretends she is Spider Man. (Seriously my 4 year old is obsessed with the old school Spider Man cartoons right now and it is quite exhaustingly adorable.)

Patience not only means staying pleasant while waiting. It also means not becoming frustrated or angry while encountering stresses, annoyances, grievances. Having patience also means you persevere calmly when facing challenges. Being patient means not being easily provoked. Wow, patience is the definition of Mommyhood. I feel like I am constantly in need of more patience even though I am a very patient person. I want my kids to be able to count on me having patience with them when they are dealing with stuff.

Proverbs 19:11 (HCSB) A person's insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.

Galatians 5:22-23 (HCSB) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (HCSB) Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs;