Love is Patient

Today I started reading The Love Dare, from the movie Fire Proof. My friend and former manager, Julie, brought up going through the book together over the summer and I was thrilled to begin! I received the book from a dear friend and mentor before the wedding(Thanks Jess Seed!),  but hadn't given it much thought over the past few years. So when Julie asked if I wanted to go through the book with her, I was very excited. She also suggested that we adapt the lessons in the book to work and office situations to apply it in different ways. I thought this was another wonderful idea and as I am sitting here reflecting on the book, I thought I would share my journey through the book and the changes that I experience while focusing on the lessons.
Today's lesson is 'Love is Patient' and the focus is clearly patience.  The book had several good quotes that I wanted to share:
- "When you choose to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation."
- "Patience brings internal calm during an external storm."
- "It doesn't rush to judgement but listens to what the other person is saying."
I appreciate all these quotes because I am so often impatient. I have to concentrate very hard on being patient, not rushing to conclusions, not lashing out with my words, and trying to see where the other person is coming from.  In marriage, it seems especially easy to be impatient in marriage. You assume that  your spouse knows everything that's going on in your mind and that they MUST know you had an awful day at work, an even worse drive home, and that you're just hungry and tired and want a big hug when you walk in the door. So when those things don't happen the minute you step into your home, you become frustrated and angry instead of realizing that hubby dearest isn't a mind reader. Somehow when you live with someone it becomes easier to be upset about small issues and dismiss the wonderful sacrifices that the other makes. So, instead of having these emotions flood through me every time B doesn't live up to my (very) high expectations, I should be patient, realize that he doesn't read minds and that he had his own very long day to live through, and offer him a hug instead.  Further, that when I am hurt, angry, upset, or in need of something more/different than what I current have, I need to communicate this to B in a positive and constructive way.
The challenge for today was to saying nothing negative to your spouse at all, and if you were tempted to say something negative, the challenge was to say nothing at all. Thankfully, both B and I worked today so there wasn't much chance to mess this challenge up with him - but when I think about applying this to the office setting there was much more opprotunity to botch this "no negative" pact.
This morning I shared a few quotes and the challenge with my fellow managers and our challenge for the day was to say nothing negative to anyone else - this proved to be extremely difficult as it seems that you can always find something to complain about at work.  I also know that I can be impatient with others at work - I expect people to do things the way that I would do them and I also can be impatient when other's are asking questions or trying to explain a situation to me. So, I am doing my best to be patient with all my coworkers while answering questions, discussing files, etc. A lofty challenge indeed. But, a good way to start is to say nothing negative and I would venture to say that my tone needs to be positive at all times as well.
The Bible verse that I found espeically helpful is from Proverbs 14:29: "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly."
So, my prayer today is that the Lord would help me to be slow to anger and improve my patience and understanding of others to better demonstrate love to everyone I encounter on a daily basis. Lord, let it be so!
only 39 more days to go! More updates to come!
Cheers Love!
(Also, this is the first blog post EVER that I haven't had any misspelled words - wow!)