“Stop following me like a puppy dog.” I sternly announce as I march upstairs while on a zoom. Two children plus the real dog marching right along behind me, curious as to where I might be headed next.
Peace.
Quiet.
That’s all I want for a few moments of the day.
And yet these adorable, inquisitive, and rambunctious little children love to see what I could possibly be doing without them. Then invade the same room I am in...basically all the time.
Might I sneak away to the office, minutes later I hear;
“Mom! Where are you? Moooooooooooom!”
I pretend I'm not there.
Or then the best and worst purchase idea we ever made was to buy Alexa’s for the whole house.
“Alexa: drop in on the office (or any of the other 5 locations we have a device in).”
"Mom, are you there?"
Me: silence...they won’t know I’m here.
This is the life of moms who stay home, homeschool and/or work from home.
We are always laying ground rules for when “mom” is busy working.
Holding the ground rules with them and yourself.
Reestablishing the ground rules.
And then redoing the ground rules.
And then we reach the end of our patience and the pressure cap blows off of the cooker!
Kids can test our patience like it's their job.
I receive remarks on a regular basis from people saying, " I don't know how you homeschool. I don't have the patience for it."
In all honesty, neither did I.
I was a short-tempered little mama.
It scared me.
Homeschooling and being a SAHM forced me to become patient.
Patience is a virtue and something we all must learn.
Whoever has great patience has great understanding, but the one who is quick-tempered displays folly. Proverbs 14:29
What area in your life can you identify that needs growth?
Maybe it's more than one. Either way, start with working on one area.
For me patience is an area I am continually working on. When I am feeling increasingly impatient it generally stems from something else.
It could simply be from a headache or lack of sleep. Or it could be deeper such as unmet expectations, stress somewhere else in my life, relational issues, or internal frustrations with myself.
An old but extremely effective way to identify why you are struggling with something (ie impatience) is to ask yourself why 5 times.
Why am I impatient right now? Because I am stressed about my business.
Why am I stressed about my business? Because I need to put more undivided attention into it.
Why am I not putting more attention into my business? Because I have so much to do I just don't schedule time for it.
Why don't I schedule time for it? Because I haven't taken the time to sit down and create a schedule.
Why haven't I taken time to schedule it? Because I am distracted.
Holy cow! Did you see what just happened? The issue of patience turned out to be so much deeper than just being an impatient person!
Take some time to go through this exercise and I bet you will begin to gain insight in the area you've chosen to work on!
Even though kids can drive us toward insanity, they are also our greatest resource to become better humans.
To teach anything to our children we must first do what we are asking of them.
This is how we grow each day!
Have a blessed Sunday,