The Patient Parent

(10/25/11)

This morning I had to battle with my daughter in order to get her ready for school.  Come on parents… you know all about those days.  You fight with them to get them out of bed, you fight with them to get them dressed, you fight with them to get them to make their bed, you fight with them to get them in the car… it’s a wonder parents don’t give themselves concussions by beating their heads’ up against the wall!

As I’ve stated previously, my daughter has ADHD; and being that she is most definitely not a morning person, moving quickly was not going to be an option this morning.  To quote one of her teachers from last year: “Zoe has two speeds.  If you don’t like the first one, you will hate the second!”  Well, I was absolutely sure this morning that Zoe had found her third speed!

As I was trying to get myself ready, while still making sure Zoe was doing her part, my patience was being tested at every turn.  By the time I finally got Zoe to school I thought I was going to lose my mind.  On the walk back to my car, after taking deep breaths and trying to regain some composure, I began thinking about all the times that God tries to get us to move forward when we think we’re not ready.  Sometimes we may fight Him while other times we may pretend we don’t hear Him, but either way, we don’t “get up and get going”.  What does God do?  Does He get frustrated and have to fight against cursing in six different languages?  Does He call up St. Peter and complain about what a pain in the butt we’re being?  Does He throw up His hands wondering, “What am I going to do with that child?”  No… gratefully He does none of those things.  He waits… patiently… all the while continuing to work all things out for our good. (Romans 8:28) As the good parent that He is, Sometimes He has to discipline us along the way, but grace and mercy always follow correction. And when we finally do whatever it is He wanted us to do all along, He smiles.  Today as we think about all this situations in our lives that may test our patience (and there are many), let’s thank God for His patience concerning us.  Where would we be without it?

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”  

 (Exodus 34:6-7, NIV)