^{PATIENCE is virtue - designed with Canva}

Who are you if you don't lose your patience?

If you are a parent, you lose your patience.
If you are an artist, you lose your patience.
If you are a business owner, you lose your patience.
If you are an author, you lose your patience.
If you are a teacher, you lose your patience.
If you have to repeat yourself over and over, you lose your patience.
If people underdeliver, you lose your patience.
If you are human, you lose your patience.

Losing your patience is part of life!

It happens to all of us. Yes, it might happen to some of us more often than others. How we deal with it also differs. I think that patience and frustration go hand in hand. The two are like peanut butter and jam, or my favorite bangers and mash.

Once upon a time, there was a young mother who had two children, a boy and a girl. She was extremely dedicated to her family and her business. She was one of those moms who got up in the early hours of the morning to start her work. Work not only as a wife and mother but also as a business owner.

She was the one who drove the kids diligently to and fro from school each day. No matter what activities they had in the afternoon she would leave her business to take them, waiting patiently for them to finish. Often, it happened that the two children had different activities in different places. She would rush from one place to the next.

When the afternoon activities were completed, it was time for her to return to her business, where she often had to sort out problems, place orders, check the stock, listen to the complaints of the staff, and help her children with their homework. She did this patiently.

Then one day, it was just all too much for her.

After performing her daily duties as business owner, mother, and taxi driver, she and the two children return home just before nightfall. It was one of those days when everything went wrong. The car would not start due to a flat battery. The wrong stock was delivered to the business. The children had activities miles apart, and she left her purse in a shop when she stopped to buy the children snacks. She had to go back to fetch it.

She sighed in relief. It was nice to be home. As she unlocked the front door she could hear the phone ringing in the kitchen. She ran to answer it, but it was too late. As she got to the dining room the phone started to ring again. Quickly she turned around and rushed back to the kitchen. As she got to the phone, her hand stretched out to pick it up, it stopped ringing. She waited patiently and picked it up right away when it started to ring for the third time.

It was the supplier who delivered the wrong stock telling her that they would only be able to deliver what she ordered the next day. No ways! That stock is needed for the evening trade. How can you tell people coming to the restaurant for a good meal that you are out of stock? She got very angry; her voice changed, and she could feel herself turning warm in her face. She had to get that stock.

While she was arguing with the supplier her children came running into the kitchen fighting and shouting at each other. She told them to be quiet, but they would not listen.

How many times must she still tell them that they must keep quiet when she is on the phone, that they must not run in the house, and that they must stop their fighting? She must have told them this a billion times already.

Her eyes caught the steak knife that was lying on the counter. She grabbed it, turned around, and threw it. The knife pegged in the wooden frame of the door only a few inches away from her daughter’s face.
An awful silence filled the air.

She dropped the phone, ran to her daughter, and gave her a hug. Silently she vowed never to let patience get the upper hand.

This is a story of my life. So easily, patience could have taken my child away from me.

Often, when we get together as a family, we talk about that day. It was a day we all learned a valuable lesson.

If you had to ask my daughter what the moral of the story is, she would tell you, "Don't forget a knife on the counter." No, my darling daughter, it is to learn to control your patience before it lands you in deep trouble.

Before you lose your patience with me let me recap the questions as in the brief of this contest.

‣ Do you tend to lose your patience easily, or do you control yourself all the time?

I don’t lose it easily, and I also don’t control myself all the time. Sometimes life dishes out so many curve balls at once that you just cannot help but give in. I am also human.

‣ What is it that makes you most desperate or stressful?

When someone doesn’t listen, when someone is late, or when someone makes the same mistake repeatedly, it stresses me out.

‣ How do you avoid losing your patience?

I have learned to take a deep breath and start counting… 1… 2… 3… and I ask our Heavenly Father each day to grant me patience.

‣ When you lose patience, how do you act?

I get angry, my voice changes, and I am normally red in the face, but I won’t throw a knife again.

‣ What advice can you give us regarding patience?

My advice is to smile. If you smile the whole world smiles with you. It is amazing how a smile can change our attitudes.

Lastly, don’t let patience get the better of you.

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