January Challenge -- Patience

PATIENCE...

Oh dear. If this is a virtue, than I am not virtuous. At. All.I remember hearing Oprah talk on her show about praying for patience and realizing that God doesn't grant you patience. Rather God teaches you patience.Nothing teaches you patience better than being a parent.When you bring a child into the world, your time stops being your own. You listen as a one minute story takes ten and you discuss/argue a 2-minute toothbrushing for twenty. You watch as the simple choice of breakfast cereal resembles "The Lady or the Tiger". And you pretend to enjoy the 23rd viewing of "Jessie" episode 5.It's more than patience of time. It's patience of heart.You learn that your child will call you names that they don't mean and that you would never abide in anyone else, even your partner. You learn that little problems can feel very big to them and need attention that seems, nay is, out of proportion.The most painful lesson you learn is that time is fluid. These moments of patience seem so painful and LONG. But then you realize that days, months, and years are gone.I am glad to learn patience. Not because it makes me virtuous but because it gives me peace in those long moments and one day, they will seem to have been too, too short.