I stopped putting out fires & started kindling them
I’m not a patient person by nature. I’m more of a go in, see the problem, fix it the quickest/most efficient way, take a deep breath, carry on, rinse, repeat. My husband calls it being a fire put-er outer. There’s a time and a place and a need for people like this. And after years of working in the medical emergency arena, you would likely say I was pretty solid in this skill. Here’s the deal though, if we run around putting fires out all day but never address the core issue of fire prevention, we are living on a perpetual hamster wheel and ignoring the root causes.
I chuckle as I type this, how God gave me the cutest teachers, how in all their smiles and big round blue eyes, they taught me that patience had to grow or I’d quench their spirit like they were a fire to be extinguished(and gracious, my active blessings have taught me some wild lessons).
Here’s the key takeaway though: your children are not a problem to be solved, a spark to squash, an inconvenient accessory item only to be brought out for show and tell moments. They are the gifts bestowed to you to highlight the very areas YOU need addressed in your own life.
It’s a sobering epiphany when it clicks. It felt foreign and unfamiliar. But, little by little, day by day, moment by moment? I started seeing how very good it is to hold on to patience and contentment and joy and the healing laughter their wild antics brimmed into my life. And, I learned which things are the out of control natural disasters that need to be tamed and also what things are flames to be kindled so my children can grow and light the world.
Also, mom tip:
coconut oil rubbed gently on skin, then use a damp soft cloth, will take sharpie marker off.
