Persistent Parenting ~ Ministry of Motherhood Week 9

“Jesus had to be patient with fully grown but spiritually immature men who seemed slow to respond to his training, so we must practice patience with our children ~ and ourselves. The very nature of training is that it usually involves immature individuals, which means it takes a long time to accomplish its goals!”

~ Sally Clarkson, Ministry of Motherhood, p. 146

Ahhh…I have to say that this was a rather ‘duh’ moment for me, but encouraging all at the same time. How many times in a day do I want to bang my head on the table and ask “SERIOUSLY??? Haven’t we been over this before?”  I’m willing to bet that phrase has dropped out of my mouth many, many times.

Patience. Deep breath.

I know that I myself have enough trouble getting some things through my own thick head and have a Heavenly Father who is most patient and understanding with me. My children haven’t even touched the tip of the mountain of immature moments that I’ve had in my life. {sigh}

Jesus walked on this earth with a group of men who watched him perform miracles. They were with Him night and day, observing His every move, word and action. There were many times when they just didn’t get it. He responded with patience and persistence.

Not only do I need to have patience with my children, I need to have patience with myself. How often do I try to immediately fix an issue that has cropped up and expect immediate results from myself ~ instead of understanding that some things are a process and will require a length of time for me to see it come to fruition?

Because we live in such an ‘instant’ society, I know that I personally expect a ‘quick fix’ is available for everything in life. A ‘how to’ book with the latest answer to all of my parenting issues is available for immediate download.  A video series will give me all the tools I need to raise my children in a specific way. I can have a NEW kid by Friday {according to some books!}.

But it really, truly requires my diligence. My perseverance. My prayers. Trust in God.

Patience.

“Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has provided.”

Hebrews 10: 35-36

 

~ My Blog Frog forums ~ several threads are going where we’re talking about the daily S.O.A.P. and our thoughts on the part of the book we’re reading.

~ Good Morning Girls Ministry of Motherhood posts

~ If you haven’t already, please be sure to fill out this quick survey and answer a few questions for me. I’m trying to create an email list to keep better in touch with all of you ladies, and this will help me out a bunch!

With all that said ~ start linking up and sharing what God showed you this week!