I stink at writing titles
I love 2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
I started off my first week of homeschooling by getting up before the kids to read a little in the Bible, and to prayerfully commit my day to him. (Why I needed homeschooling to start doing this, I don't know. And how Bethany figured it out and started getting up before ME, is an even bigger mystery. But I digress...)
I have been praying nonetheless, and one of my most consistent prayers over these last two weeks is that God would remind me to be patient. I didn't ask him to give me patience, because he has already given me everything I need for godliness. I simply asked him to remind me to choose it; to use what he has already given me.
This evening, I found myself talking with a friend from church who is also a homeschooler. We shared about our struggles as moms, wives, teachers, etc. One thing we both had in common was pretty consistent failure to show patience and gentleness to our kids. We were discussing how this has been hurtful to our children, and how God is bringing change to those areas of our lives.
I had to chuckle to myself, because it seems like any time someone learns that you are homeschooling, they immediately say something about how patient you must be, or that they would never have the patience to teach their own children.
If only they could have heard our conversation.
I am not a patient person. And by that, I mean that I regularly choose NOT to be patient. That is why I have been praying so much these last two weeks: because I knew my patience was going to be tried.
And it was.
But, you know what? God really did remind to be patient. He really, really did. For that, I praise Him, because without it I think these last two weeks could have gone badly.
So, I am wondering about you: is there a characteristic or gift (that you are willing to admit) that God has already given you, but you don't choose to use?
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
I started off my first week of homeschooling by getting up before the kids to read a little in the Bible, and to prayerfully commit my day to him. (Why I needed homeschooling to start doing this, I don't know. And how Bethany figured it out and started getting up before ME, is an even bigger mystery. But I digress...)
I have been praying nonetheless, and one of my most consistent prayers over these last two weeks is that God would remind me to be patient. I didn't ask him to give me patience, because he has already given me everything I need for godliness. I simply asked him to remind me to choose it; to use what he has already given me.
This evening, I found myself talking with a friend from church who is also a homeschooler. We shared about our struggles as moms, wives, teachers, etc. One thing we both had in common was pretty consistent failure to show patience and gentleness to our kids. We were discussing how this has been hurtful to our children, and how God is bringing change to those areas of our lives.
I had to chuckle to myself, because it seems like any time someone learns that you are homeschooling, they immediately say something about how patient you must be, or that they would never have the patience to teach their own children.
If only they could have heard our conversation.
I am not a patient person. And by that, I mean that I regularly choose NOT to be patient. That is why I have been praying so much these last two weeks: because I knew my patience was going to be tried.
And it was.
But, you know what? God really did remind to be patient. He really, really did. For that, I praise Him, because without it I think these last two weeks could have gone badly.
So, I am wondering about you: is there a characteristic or gift (that you are willing to admit) that God has already given you, but you don't choose to use?
posted by 
at 11:39 PM
6 Comments:
Oh, patience with my children! Oh, they see the worst of it from me, I'm afraid! Just this morning, I lost my patience with one of them, and then a little while later I heard the same tone of voice coming from them. I hung my head in shame!!!
You are SO right, we need to choose what he has already given to us. But, wow, that is hard!
Wow! I'm with you and Addie...patience. I allow little things to irritate me or get on my nerves and I tend to lose it. Lose the patience that is. But, I must say that I like how you shared your heart about making it a choice to use patience instead of asking for it in prayer. That is a great way to look at it and I am going to focus on that this very week.
I love having friends who are so real and honest - you're awesome!
Good theological application! God has given us everything we need for godliness, so when we don't live up to it, it is a lack of will or heart (lev in Hebrew).
A true statement, but not a statement I want to confront after I have chosen to bea jerk :(
One of the nice things God did when He created humans, is he gave us the capacity to grow. The more we work at something, the greater our capacity and our will to do it.
Speaking of that, keep up the morning routine! I have found that when I give God the first fruits of my morning, the rest of the day begins in God's perspective.
LOVED this post! You have no idea how badly I needed to realize that we 'choose' to use the things God has already given us.
My gift that I have chosen not to use would also be patience. I lose my temper with my kids way too easily and I yell way too much. Not an easy thing to admit, much less plaster in the Internet, but it's true and it's real. And, shamefully, I am seeing my 7-yr.-old take the same tone/temper with his brother and his friends.
Thanks for the much-needed kick in the pants.
Mine would be patience also. I hadn't considered that I've already been given all I need. Now I just have to remember to choose to use it. Thanks!
I think the consensus is patience. I have it, but usually forget that it is lodged into the back of my mind somewhere. Usually anger beats it to the punch, but it is followed by true remorse and apologies. I have asked the kids to pray about my lack of patience and making good choices, so it is very humbling to hear your six yo pray for you to not loose it over nothing.
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