Mommy, I want to be patient!

One evening while Baby Girl was still napping and Daddy wasn't home from work yet, R and I decided to start making dinner. I had all of the ingredients laid out and ready to be put together. R was standing on top of her stool ready to help and by that I mean she was touching, moving and "helping" with everything she shouldn't have been.

We would make it through a few small steps before I would have to stop and ask her to wait, be patient and obey. I tried explaining to her that things had to be done a certain way and in a certain order for dinner to turn out the way it should. But alas, she's three, and that never lasted long. I cannot tell you how many times I had to ask her to be patient.

At one point, I had had enough and R was about to get into trouble. She had made a giant mess after doing exactly what she had been asked not to do and Mommy needed some space. I told her she was done, thanked her for her help and took her off her stool. I let her know that she would have to learn how to be patient because Mommy wanted her help, and I'll never forget her response. She looked at me with the most serious face and exclaimed, "But Mommy, I WANT to be patient!"

She stopped me dead in my tracks. How do you respond to such a statement? Well I'll tell you how I responded, I picked her back up, put her back on her stool, gave her some paper towels and asked her to help clean up her mess before we could continue. Then we made our dinner together.

I then imagined myself on that stool talking to "daddy God." He would give me a direction that I may or may not follow and being my normal impatient self I would try to grab everything within my grasp and want to do things my own way. All the time He would be telling me the same exact things I had said to my little girl- be patient, obey, things need to be done in a certain way and in a certain order for things to turn out the way He planned.

I knew that God was speaking to me through the voice of this little child. I feel like I am always telling God the same thing she told me, "But God I WANT to be patient!" I am always asking for His help in learning to be patient. It's definitely not my greatest strength, although I'd like it to be. And just as she was trying to be patient, God was teaching me to be patient with her as He is always patient with me, because God knows I need it.