I have the awesome privilege of hanging out with kids almost every day. I teach piano lessons and I have 8 amazingly cute students ranging in age from 5 to 10 and I babysit once a week for a bright little three-year-old named Elysia. Over the past 3 years I’ve gotten to know each of them and truly love them as if they were my own.
Today I was hanging out with Elysia in her Great-Grandmother’s park-like backyard doing what we usually do: going on a safari, picking cherries, and just talking about the exciting things in our lives. While we were eating lunch Elysia was telling me all about her birthday party last weekend. She listed every person that came, what they were wearing and what their favorite food was. She told me about her friend Toby who likes hot dogs and is “mostly a boy”, and her friend Shirley who only wears pink. Meanwhile she’s trying to cut her lunch with plastic play silverware, getting nowhere and losing half of it to the family dog, True (lunch is usually an hour affair!). My instinct is usually to jump right in, cut-up all her food for her, and encourage her to eat more every time she pauses in her story telling, but today Elysia doesn’t let me. She wants to do it herself no matter how long it takes or how much of her hamburger she sacrifices to True. I finally resign and stop trying to speed things along and just watch her, rejoicing when she succeeds. Most of the time she can do it on her own I just have to be patient. .
Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit that I often find hard to come by. In my striving to be in control and on my own schedule I miss the beautiful moments of growth the Lord has for me. God daily uses the awesome kids in my life to grow me in patience and unconditional love; whether it means spending six piano lessons to learn just one song or taking an hour to eat lunch. I’m learning to just step back and look for those important life lessons God has for me in those precious moments with my little teachers; lessons, moments, and teachers I am so grateful for.
“Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” -Colossians 3:12
