Patience (or lack thereof), continued

(See the previous post for Part I of this series)

Well I've certainly noticed one thing about patience: it's a whole lot easier to write about it than to exercise it. And a whole lot easier to sit here thinking noble thoughts about it than to act on it.

Yesterday when Jamie woke up from his nap at least an hour earlier than I was desperately hoping he would (again), I had another horrifying thought: what if that happened just so I could practice flexibility and patience and all of that? In other words, now it's not just Michael but also Jamie who's part of this little conspiracy for my character development!!! Augh!

Unfortunately I didn't think of that until after I'd already gone through the roof emotionally. It's ridiculous (even embarrassing) to think how little it takes to send me into a tailspin sometimes.

Well, I read something in good old Oswald Chambers this morning that was another bit of encouragement, so here it is:

The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom...[is] a complete and entire recognition that we cannot begin to do it...recognition of the fact that I have not the power within me to do what my spirit longs to do.

...If ever I am going to be what Jesus wants me to be, He must come in and do it.

I can't do it! He has to do it for me!

So, I'll keep aiming at patience, flexibility, and what I think is the underlying issue, TRUST: trust that God has a plan for my day, and it is good, even though it is so often not what my plan for the day was.

And in the mean time, it's quite easy to acknowledge that I cannot begin to hit that target. So it will have to be Him that gets me there, to that place of trust and peace and quietness within, undisturbed by dawdling children, wakeful babies, sickness, or any of the other little yet really overwhelming trials that He allows to come my way each day.