Guest blogger: Brittany Towne

This post is from one of my dearest friends, Brittany.
We were married 11 months apart, live 1 block apart, and our daughters are 4 days apart :)
Life with the Towne's by our side is always encouraging, funny, and a blessing to have a mirrored family with our own.
She was kind enough to share a sweet story about being a Godly mom and what exactly that means...

Patience is a Virtue

Patience.....the word alone evokes a shutter from deep within. To say the least it is not my strongest character trait. I am always quick to respond, lash out, growl (yes, growl), retaliate, or just get annoyed when something or someone takes too long. (Like the boy at Wal-Mart who paid for a deck of cards with all PENNIES!! ) I have tried counting to 10, taking a deep breath, clenching my fists, and numerous other little "tricks". All to no avail. I still growl at the computer, snap back at family, and seethe with annoyance every time I have to wait in line.

The past few weeks my reading has repeatedly taken me back to the Fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23. Each time patience resonated deep within my gut. As a mother, I cannot afford to be impatient. I cannot growl at my daughter when she takes too long to eat her peas. I cannot stomp my feet with annoyance at the inevitability of long lines. Nor can I snap at my husband for being a millisecond behind schedule. I have little eyes watching every move. It would be unreasonable for me to expect my daughter to have any semblance of patience if the action is so foreign.

It is with the consideration of my daughter that patience becomes imperative. I must learn that each pea thrown on the ground represents the opportunity to practice. With every long line, I am learning discipline. And with each deep breath, God will give me restraint. My daughter will learn many things from me as she journeys through life, I pray patience is one of them.