Content with being Patient

I love waking up to a dark house in the morning! It makes me feel so warm and peaceful.
So, we didn't go anywhere yesterday. I lost my will to get the kids ready by lunch time. So today we will make up for it. I am planning on heading to my favorite place, Borders around 10. I love to go and get a cup of coffee, let the kids each pick a book, and mil around for a while. I do realize all this could be done for free at the library (which we also do sometimes) but unfortunately the library has turned into a pretty major trigger for Aiden and I have to go one on one with him.
Then I think I am going to mosey over to the Wally World and maybe our storage unit.

What I really wanted to talk about this morning is patience. Patience is a quality God really wants me to have, and has been very persistent about making sure that I get it. So you can basically take a look at any event in life and see a point when you needed patience. Looking for a new house, pregnancy, payday, financial problems, health problems, relationship problems. Generally every situation in life requires some type of waiting period. I use to say when Bryan was on the Cutter Munroe in the Coast Guard that I had so much patience and that my life was all about waiting. I also said that when I was pregnant with Nolan, Jackson, and each time we have needed a place to live and Bryan was out of a job. Waiting, waiting, waiting on God. We have had to learn the times we need to wait on Him, and when He wants us to act and make a decision on our own. So after several years this hardcore brand of patience I have developed has turned into something different... contentment. I am no longer waiting. I mean, I am physically in a way, but I'm not waiting for the next phase or outcome. Choose to be happy, satisfied right now. The answers or results you end up with may or may not be what you prayed for, and right at this moment it doesn't matter. You have everything you need in this moment.
Patience IS a virtue (my kids require alot of it). But when we are content, God is really doing something awesome with us. I know that I am capable of so much more when I am content. I make better decisions, I am a better wife and mom, and I won't get to the end of my life and realize I spent the whole time worrying about what was next.
So you're probably wondering what caused this outpouring of wisdom/opinion this morning. Well, really it is because I had one of those mornings when I realized that despite all the things that could have me stressed out, on medication (don't get me wrong meds do have their place) loosing sleep, angry, afraid, bitter, and maybe insane... God's consistent challenges have given me so much patience I am content, content for no reason. ha ha.
Good luck with this, all ye servants and saints. Today, take the stress, and challenges, and even the blessings you have to wait so long for, and let God use them to give you peace and contentment instead of waiting. Enjoy the moment for whatever it is.

"Lord help me to have contentment all day today. Even when I am in the store with my kids, even when I am stuck in traffic on Meridian, and every time one of the challenges ahead of my family resurfaces in my mind. I'm not waiting, I'm living right now, and now I am useful. Amen."