52 Week Happy Family Challenge #1: Be Patient

Patience as defined by Merriam-Webster is the habit of being able to remain calm and not become annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with problems or people. Wow! This is a biggie for my family. Half of our time, my husband or I are singing the be patient song or asking our kids to show patience. The other half of the time we are rushing our kids out the door to the next thing, using the words hurry up to an excess. No wonder our children are impatient. We model impatience with them tons throughout every day. 

I also never thought about having patience with a person but it makes sense. The Rev. has a pillow that says, "be patient, God isn't finished with me yet." I never paid much attention to it until I began to realize just how impatient I've been with myself, my husband, and my kids.

So, this week I make the conscious effort to start everything a little bit earlier to give the kids more time. I will count to five before reacting to situations that are frustrating (maybe 10 or 20 depending in what happens). I will require patience in our home because, "love is patient," so by being patient, I must be showing love.