On Patience

God has taught me many lessons through my kids. Some lessons were kind of funny and made me laugh at myself, some made me want to cringe and cower in shame. Some just made me think.

A few years ago, I was at the kitchen stove stirring up a storm, trying to get dinner ready in a hurry. I had stuff to do you know??? I'm not that good of a cook, so I don't take a whole lot of pleasure in cooking. (My husband once told me I had a way with meat if that's any indication to you...) Anyway, like I said, I had stuff to do. Like worry some more over bills that we couldn't pay, (as if my worrying was going to change anything) and growl at anyone who tried to make me feel better. In other words, I was not in a good mood.

As I'm cooking, I'm having a conversation with God. It went something like this:

Me: "God, You know we're in a bind. HELP!!!"

God: (silence, crickets chirping in the background)

Me: "Didn't you hear me God???? I need a miracle here. You know, as in biblical type proportions. And I mean I need it ASAP!!!!"

Enter 5 year old son.

Son: "Mom, is dinner ready yet???" Cute smiles and puppy dog eyes.

Me: "No son, dinner is not ready yet. I'll call you first thing as soon as it is." Roll eyes, think jeez, can't the kid see I'm stirring here???

Me: "Ok, where was I God? Oh yeah, ummm, about that miracle. Didn't you see me tithing last week???? I REALLY need to capitalize on that today if possible." sidenote: My ideas about tithing weren't always altruistic back then.

God: (more silence)

Son: "Hi, mom, is dinner ready yet???"

Me: "Son, you are going to have to be more patient. I promise, I will let you know the minute it's finished." Great balls of fire....I know the boy can see me standing here, stirring away....we just had his vision checked. Why on earth is he so worried??? Doesn't he believe me when I say he'll be the first to know??

Me: "Ok, Lord, You know I can't take much more of this. I really need You to let me know what You're going to do right now."

Son: "Hi mommy. Is dinner ready now?"

Me: Sighing and snorting "Son, I promise you I will LET YOU KNOW. Please be a little patient!" Lord, I have never allowed that child to go to bed hungry...what is the problem here???

God: "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Me: "HELP!"

God: "No, no, that last part, about never allowing your child to go hungry..."

Me: light bulbs going off "Oh...heh heh, yeah. Well, the thing is God, I'm really needy right now and uh..."

God: "I'm still stirring. When I'm done, you'll be the first to know. By the way, you really should try some of that patience stuff you keep preaching to your son."

Well, there you have it folks, Object Lesson On Patience #12,348. Aren't children great? Isn't God awesome? He did take care of that little matter by the way, just like He always has. So, how about you??? Are you worried? Afraid God has forgotten about your needs? Take it from me...He's still stirring.

Comments

{ann} said…
I love the lessons learned through our children. Nice. Thanks for sharing. I totally know about the stirring thing...remembering God's 3 answers to prayer: no, yes and not now.
Shayne said…
reverbate,

Thank you for the kind words and the welcome. I am so new to all of this. I've never really been a person who keeps a diary or a journal, but wow, I'm really finding out how much fun it is. Hope to see you around the 'sphere!
Shayne said…
Ann,

I love the lessons learned through our children as well. Although, I think I could handle "No" a lot better than "Not now." How about you? :)
Grafted Branch said…
I also loved that story! Yes, I love the way He uses our relationship with our children to teach us about our relationship to Him.

Nice to meet you. Just surfing the CWO ring.

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