Well let's see here, this past week was pretty routine. No extraordinary occurrences, nothing too crazy to report on, but Friday was pretty sweet. On Friday night I went over to Marla’s to help the kids decorate the Christmas tree and set up the Christmas decorations around the house. It was a perfect evening in which I was able to immerse myself in all of the kids’ joy and excitement, and the it was the first time it’s really felt like Christmastime here in Belize. It was such a happy atmosphere and such a wonderful evening, I am so blessed that I was able to be a part of it. Perfect end to the week.
decorating the Christmas tree at Marla's
I love these kids so much
This week has started off pretty normal as well, but today was definitely a trying one, to say the least. I swear that small children have a sixth sense for annoying others; it’s like a sick little game that only they understand, and they play it like pros. In fact today the preschoolers were playing the game of their life. While I was trying to teach the lesson this morning, we had one child doing somersaults, one child crawling on my back, two crawling on top of each other, and one trying to steal the glitter and use it as a musical shaker. It was hopeless from the word “go”, and their usual attention span of 20 seconds was sitting at a solid 2.5, so to say the lesson was challenging would be an understatement. At one point I literally had to stand up and just walk to other side of the room before I attempted strangling the first child I could get my hands on.
I finally gave up for the morning and took them outside to jump on the trampoline, which is usually a break for me because they entertain themselves with all kinds of ridiculous “tricks” and games they make up...but not today. Today every single one of them wanted me to watch their incredible acrobatic skills as they performed dangerous feats such as twirling in a circle, jumping “really high”, jumping and landing indian style, and more somersaults. And every single one of them began yelling my name over and over, at increasing decibels, until I assured them at least three times that yes, I was watching, and wow, that was a great trick. And every single one of them wanted me to watch them at the same time. I don’t think I’ve ever heard my name that many times in that short of a time span. It was impressive.
The fun doesn’t even stop there, oh no. After the trampoline we went over to the play fort, where they once again took turns completely ignoring my instruction. Yet they would turn and smile at me while disobeying, as if saying, “Yep, I can hear you and I know exactly what you want me to do, but I love watching you suffer so I’m just going to keep throwing rocks at you until you cry.” I didn’t cry, but I did have to count to ten several times and remind myself that murder is not okay. So I suppose you could say that my patience was tried today, but I made it through the day without yelling or crying or killing anyone, which I consider to be a victory.
While I was outside with the kids (as they threw rocks at each other and me), I realized what a necessary quality patience is and how it makes such a difference in our relationships. Having a short temper pushes people away and prevents you from really getting to know others. You can’t build a relationship of any kind with someone who gets angry or defensive at every difference of opinion or disagreement, who would want to? You need understanding and compassion to create a lasting companionship of any kind, and those qualities aren’t compatible with anger or frustration. It’s not easy to maintain that kind of patience in your life, but hey, when has this world ever been easy?
You can’t always contain your temper, we are only human after all, but it’s so important to attempt to maintain a calmness in your life so that you are better able to communicate and relate to the people you care about. When I was seconds away from loosing my cool this morning, it suddenly dawned on me that getting angry wouldn’t fix anything. There was absolutely no point in losing my forbearance: nothing would get done better or faster, no one would feel better because of it, and I would most likely feel worse due to the guilt of losing control of my emotions. It’s just not worth it.
So many times we let our frustrations get the best of us and turn a simple solution into a raging disaster. So the next time you feel like you’re about to lose the last of your patience, just stop for a second and ask yourself, what will your anger accomplish? I bet you won’t come up with enough to justify a temper tantrum. Just make a small extra effort this week and try to stretch your patience a little farther than it’s used to going, and you might be surprised at how calm things suddenly seem to become in your life. After all, patience is a virtue...eh, it’s just plain vital.
