Hope

Sometimes you just have to look to the sky and be grateful for the little things - even though it's the little things that may have you looking to the sky to begin with.

Patience and Ferocious Love

It is true. With parenthood comes the ever-present need for patience. I wish I could store it all up and use that extra patience I had from day 1 and use it on day 4. I found myself losing my patience several times today with my almost-2-year-old daughter as she ferociously loved my 6-week-old daughter - namely, she was laying smack dab on top of her, hugging and kissing her. She has her gentle moments, and then she has her violent and ferocious love moments. All come with good intentions, but you think she would reconsider literally smothering her sister with love while she screamed and writhed in pain beneath her. And yes, I called my mother tonight to ask her what to do. Ended up, I was doing the right thing all along, which was yanking the old one off the younger one and explaining the whole concept of inflicting pain on someone smaller than yourself. Not sure if it got through to her 20-month-old brain, but here's hoping.

How many times have you found yourself in the same situation? How many times have you tried so hard to have patience with your little ones, with your husband, with your parents, with your co-workers...and you get to the point where patience just doesn't cut it anymore and you want to blow your top? And how many times have you had the patience to love kindly, gently, patiently...and when there is no physical reception of that love, have you ever lost your patience and loved "ferociously?" They are the extremes, these things called patience and love - so easy to feel, yet so hard to contain.

So tonight, I will go to bed and pray for my patience to restore itself while I sleep. It's nice to know that with each day comes a new slate, and we can approach it as patiently or ferociously as we choose.

Timid

Inside each of us is someone who is timid. Whether you're a little timid, or a lot, we have aprehensions; fears. Fears of spiders, fears of abandonment, fears of death, and of the unknown.

Don't be afraid. Encourage yourself by filling up on God's word, so that you can be ready at a moment's notice to share your hope with those who don't know how to hope.

I Peter 3:14b-16, "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." (NIV)