Encouragement for the Impatient Mother

I’ve been told I have the patience of a saint, but admittedly, it can be hard to maintain my patience when mothering gets tough. Today my friend Rachel Q., a homeschooling mother of 8, shares her heart.

I have a confession to make. I am not patient. It’s good to get that off my chest. I am an impatient homeschooling mama of many, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not ok with that. You see, I needed to admit that because I often hear, “You have how many kids?! You must have so much patience.”

Well, not so much, but it’s an area in which God has really been dealing with me. I know it’s wrong to snap at my children when I’m tired. I know it’s wrong to overlook things that need done simply because I don’t feel like taking the time to do them. I realize that it’s foolish to expect my children to live right without proper, patient, consistent training.

2 timothy 2:24 tells us, “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.” There are too many times I let busyness, tiredness or apathy get in the way of properly training my children. I fall into the “Do-it-because-I-said-so” routine. My children might “do it,” but it’s not with the right heart or because I’ve actually trained them.

Some nights at bedtime we have what a friend called “Bed time Whack-a-Mole.” You think the children are finally in bed, but as soon as you sit down to do something, one of the children is back out of bed. You get that one back in bed and another one pops up, and the game continues. Only it doesn’t usually feel so much like a game. Oh how easy it is to snap at moments like this.

Romans 5:3-4 says, “…but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience experience; and experience hope.” Raising children is a joy, a privilege, a blessing. There is no doubt about that whether you have one child or twelve. Still, child-rearing presents many challenges and some would even say trials or tribulations. But look again at Paul’s words to the Romans. Tribulation leads to patience. Patience brings about experience and experience, hope. Why? Continue reading in verse 5. “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.” When all is said and done with the right attitude, trials ultimately lead to experiencing and sharing God’s love.

Sometimes I wonder why God would think me capable of raising eight of His most precious blessings. The truth is, He doesn’t—at least not in my own strength. But He chose me to be their mother so that He could do a work in me and so that ultimately He would be glorified.

No, I am not a patient person, but I know God can do a work in me. James 1:3 says, “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” God is patient with me, and He’ll help me to be patient with others!