As some of you may or may not know I do not have a lot of patience. I can do a good job of faking it for awhile, but I would say on a whole patience is something I really, really have to work at. I'm also starting to suspect that my two young boys are rapidly figuring out I don't have a lot of patience and are continually finding new ways to test them. I think by the time they're 10 they will have out grown this...right?!?! I know, I know...your kids will always test your patience.
Take this morning for instance. The boys know there is not video games before school, and if mom had her way there wouldn't be video games period! But that's a different post. Usually I get the boys up, then as I get dressed for the morning so do they, and then I usually have to take Alex's clothes off and put them on the right way, but at least he's trying. So this morning I come out of the bedroom and I hear a funny noise...sounds like a video game. Sure enough...for the second morning in a row one of my son's is sitting in his underwear playing a video game instead of being dressed and ready to go. I didn't handle it well yesterday, and I surely didn't handle it well this morning. As I stated above I don't have patience for stuff like that. They both know the rule, but they just have to test the boundaries. I could spend a day or two writing about how my patience get's tested, but I bet anyone reading this can relate to people/kids testing their patience at some point or another.
As I was sitting in the bus this morning I got to wondering if I can increase my patience level. I'm 36, and I'm fairly stuck in my ways, but there has to be some trick to getting more patience right? Maybe I count to 10 before I dole out any discipline. Maybe I remember all of the times I've tried my parent's patience. Maybe I can pray for God to help me in this area. I suppose all of those things will help, but I'm afraid this may always be a character flaw.
Every time I consider my lack of patience and how frustrating it can be to watch a 7 year old eat with his fingers and drop food on the floor for the millionth time I wonder how God does it. How many times have I, and has all of humanity, caused God to lose his patience? I think Noah and the flood might have been the closet God has come to just throwing God's hands in the air and saying enough! Then, think about all of the stuff that's happened since then. How much war and bloodshed and suffering. I think about the times when I've made the same mistake for the millionth time or I have failed to learn a lesson. How lucky are we that God doesn't lost God's patience with us? If anyone every had just cause to I'd imagine God reached that point a long time ago. Thank God that the Spirit is infinitely patient and that no matter how many times we've messed up we can repent and be forgiven. In many ways God is like a parent, except God is the perfect parent. Never losing patience, never giving up on us, and God will never stop loving us. I think I need to realize that more, and not take for granted how good God is. Maybe if I can be more mindful of how patient God is with me I can be more patient when mud is tracked through the house again for the 100th time! Remember, God is great, and God loves you! No take a deep breath...in out...in out...
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
I'm SUPER excited!!
Some of you may or may not know, but our family took a trip to Kentucky this past week for my sister-in-law's wedding. Kentucky is a beautiful state, and the wedding reflected the beauty around us. Congratulations to Darcy and Jeremy! One of the neat things on the trip was sitting by my youngest son Alex. This was his first airplane ride, and man was he pumped! All I heard on that first flight was, "I'm super excited dad...I'm super excited! This is super fun...this is super fun!" His eyes were wide opened and he loved looking out the window and watching the small cars and semis below us. I've never seen a kid maintain that level of excitement before. He was truly having the time of his life, and his excitement was infectious. Even I enjoyed the plan ride even though I could have used about 12 inches more space in between my seat and the seat in front of me. One couldn't help but have a good time
Attitude has huge influence on the way we experience life. I know I'm not revealing anything new, but I was reminded of that fact on my flight with Alex. I never like plane rides (they aren't designed for tall people), and I was certainly wondering how a flight would be with a squirmy 3 year old by me. I had visions of cramped quarters, irate passengers because they didn't appreciate the massage his little feet could give them, and an hour of are we there yet. I had decided before I even got there I was going to have a bad flight. If Alex hadn't been so good and so excited my attitude would have made it a bad flight and experience for both of us.
How many times have we made a situation worse because our attitude was terrible? I'm afraid to count honestly. I'm really good at letting my preconceived notions about a situation dictate how I go into it. If I think it's going to be a bad experience before I even get there then you know what....more times then not I have a bad experience. When I look back at those experiences I can see that if I would have went with an open mind then the experience wouldn't have been so bad at all. Attitude shapes us all the time, and we can control our attitude.
Thinking a little deeper I believe our attitude changes others around us too. Think of a time when you were in a meeting and someone walked in with a sour attitude. What happened to the tenor of that meeting? It generally follows the grumpy person right? Conversely, what happened when someone with some real excitement and enthusiasm came into a meeting? The energy picked up and most likely it's was successful meeting, or at least as successful as meetings can be. A 3 year old had a huge influence on my experience on the airplane, and I'd even go as far to say he influenced how I experienced the rest of the trip. His unbridled enthusiasm got the trip started off on the right foot and it was great from there.
I challenge you, and I challenge myself, to take a look at my attitude before I go into something. I certainly don't want to be the person who brings the whole room down. I'd rather be the person who lifts the spirits of the room. I know that I can't always be sunshine and rainbows, but at the very least I can keep the negativity and preconceived notions at bay so I can at least start the experience with an open mind. Do you think you could try that too?
Attitude has huge influence on the way we experience life. I know I'm not revealing anything new, but I was reminded of that fact on my flight with Alex. I never like plane rides (they aren't designed for tall people), and I was certainly wondering how a flight would be with a squirmy 3 year old by me. I had visions of cramped quarters, irate passengers because they didn't appreciate the massage his little feet could give them, and an hour of are we there yet. I had decided before I even got there I was going to have a bad flight. If Alex hadn't been so good and so excited my attitude would have made it a bad flight and experience for both of us.
How many times have we made a situation worse because our attitude was terrible? I'm afraid to count honestly. I'm really good at letting my preconceived notions about a situation dictate how I go into it. If I think it's going to be a bad experience before I even get there then you know what....more times then not I have a bad experience. When I look back at those experiences I can see that if I would have went with an open mind then the experience wouldn't have been so bad at all. Attitude shapes us all the time, and we can control our attitude.
Thinking a little deeper I believe our attitude changes others around us too. Think of a time when you were in a meeting and someone walked in with a sour attitude. What happened to the tenor of that meeting? It generally follows the grumpy person right? Conversely, what happened when someone with some real excitement and enthusiasm came into a meeting? The energy picked up and most likely it's was successful meeting, or at least as successful as meetings can be. A 3 year old had a huge influence on my experience on the airplane, and I'd even go as far to say he influenced how I experienced the rest of the trip. His unbridled enthusiasm got the trip started off on the right foot and it was great from there.
I challenge you, and I challenge myself, to take a look at my attitude before I go into something. I certainly don't want to be the person who brings the whole room down. I'd rather be the person who lifts the spirits of the room. I know that I can't always be sunshine and rainbows, but at the very least I can keep the negativity and preconceived notions at bay so I can at least start the experience with an open mind. Do you think you could try that too?
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