Patience

Sigh.....

I wish I was better at this.

Too often, I'm not.

Love, Joy, Peace, PATIENCE, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control.

I love this quote from KimC at inashoe.com

"God doesn’t give us the grace, or the energy, or the patience we need for the whole upcoming year all in one dose. He measures it out for us day by day, like the manna He gave the Israelites in the wilderness.  Planning ahead is good in general, but when the Israelites tried against God’s command to gather enough manna for the following day they found it rotted.  Don’t worry about tomorrow.  Do your best today.  God’s way keeps you coming back to Him.  If you start feeling like you can do this all on your own, things are about to go downhill."

You can read the rest of her post about patience here: http://inashoe.com/2011/09/4-moms-practice-patience-in-the-midst-of-chaos/

We all find ourselves when we come to the point where we just lose it. Maybe it's because you can't find that stupid hairbrush that you've been trying to find for the past 30 minutes, or some toy mysteriously gets flushed down the toilet, or an entire bowl of spaghetti gets dropped all over the floor, or it seems like you can't even go to the bathroom without someone banging on the door with an urgent need. (Most likely it's just to tell you that they just finished drawing a picture and NEED you to see it RIGHT now! You know urgent stuff like that.)

Or most likely, if your me, I reach that snapping point when we are trying to leave the house and have to be somewhere at a certain time. It's usually me that's running around like a mad woman, five minutes after we're already supposed to have left, shouting, "I can't find my other SHOE!!! Grab the baby's pacifier! What do you mean you can't find it? Can SOMEBODY PLEASE help me find my purse! Wait... where's my cell PHONE? OK, let's go... what... you have to go potty right NOW?!"

Anyhoo. (I know, I need to work on my organizational skills... and probably try to become better at planning ahead.)

While I don't have 12 kids like KimC, whew... God bless her, I find myself struggling with patience with my 3. When I do lose it, I truly regret my lack of patience with them. I'm so thankful that I can tell them I'm sorry, ask them to forgive me, and start all over again. And then the best defense is to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! THANK YOU Lord that each new day is a new start and you promise to give me exactly what I need for that day. Help me to remember, even in the midst of chaos, to love my family with kindness and patience so that I might glorify you!

(And then if it's REALLY been a trying day, I try to self medicate with chocolate and take a bubble bath.... if I can get my hubby to take care of the kids, which he usually does, because he's good like that.)

"Love is patient, love is kind." 1 Corinthians 13:4a