If This is How I Learn, I am So Blessed!!

I feel like I have been praying for patience my whole life. I have never felt as if I am a very patient person. A product of my generation, I guess. So I prayed and prayed, "God, please give me patience. Please give me patience". Expecting to just wake up one day a patient woman! And, to expect that I would gain a level of patience that I could actually describe myself as patient.


Funny how it never really works out that way.


Instead of instantly becoming patient overnight.....I became pregnant. And I had to learn to be patient in doctor's appointments that often ran late. Patient when waiting in line for the restroom. Patient with everyone with whom I came in contact when my emotions were a little "off".


I had to learn to be patient with Andrew after he was born. Patience with him learning. Everything. Learning how to drink from a bottle. Learning how to be content without crying for hours on end. Learning how to sleep for more than 2, 6, 8 hours. Learning how to put himself back to sleep when he woke during the middle of his nap. Learning how to eat solid foods, roll over, crawl, stand, walk.


Now that he is a toddler, learning patience is a daily lesson(s). If being pregnant and having a newborn were the elementary and highschools of learning patience, then having a 16 month old MUST be the equivalent of college. And, I have heard that I will eventually get to experience graduate courses on patience! Yay....I am so looking forward to that.

In the meantime, I am learning how not to lose it when my son is losing it; when he whines/cries/fusses every afternoon; when he refuses to eat lunch, but wakes up early from his nap because he is hungry; when he has to be told NO a hundred times for trying to crawl in the dryer; when he pulls my hair for being told NO, which results in a pop on his hand, which leads to a tantrum on the floor; when I am trying to get dressed/cook/fold laundry and he is pulling on my leg, whining of course; when I am trying to hurry through the mall, but he wants to walk.

I can't believe I was begging God for patience, and he gave me Motherhood!! I am learning that, like patience, knowing how to be a mom doesn't just happen overnight. It takes practice.....and a few thousand lessons on patience.