{"id":44596,"date":"2014-03-13T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=44596"},"modified":"2014-03-13T09:30:25","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T14:30:25","slug":"four-attitudes-evangelical-parenthood-patience-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/four-attitudes-evangelical-parenthood-patience-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: Patience – Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pope<\/a>The third attitude of evangelical parenthood is patience. \u00a0As we write this, we’ve just returned from a stint at the grocery store – one that we thought was going to be 30 minutes. \u00a0An hour and a half later, we’ve just put up the last of the groceries. \u00a0And \u2026. where are\/were our children? \u00a0Somewhere else. \u00a0While they’ve missed the work, we’re pretty sure that they will not be missing any of the meals or snacks that were just stuffed in the pantry.<\/p>\n

We’ve heard that patience is a virtue – one that we seem to be lacking at this moment. \u00a0Isn’t it ironic that we need to write a post right now, explaining how to cultivate an attitude of patience to you? \u00a0All when, in fact, we’ve failed at its practice less than 30 minutes ago. \u00a0Nonetheless, the clock’s ticking. \u00a0And this post needs posting. \u00a0No time for patience. \u00a0So, maybe we can pass along some wisdom from this experience.<\/p>\n

First, patience requires patience with ourselves<\/strong>. \u00a0Frequently, people can be least patient with themselves. \u00a0In our experience, as we grow more impatient with our failures at the practice of any virtue (but particularly patience), it seems that we grow more impatient with others. \u00a0So, as impatience presents itself, recognize it for what it is and acknowledge it. \u00a0Then stop and ask God for the grace to overcome the impatience. \u00a0In your head count to 20 or say an “Our Father”, a “Hail Mary”, and a “Glory Be” before you respond to the impatience building up inside of you. \u00a0Be patient with yourself.<\/p>\n

Second, patience requires practice<\/strong>. \u00a0So, work on patience for the next 30 days. \u00a0Make it the one virtue on which you will focus for the next four weeks. \u00a0Heck, make it one of your Lenten sacrifices. \u00a0In the morning, remind yourself that you will practice patience. \u00a0Make it part of your morning offering. \u00a0“Lord, I offer you today my practice of patience in union with the unbelievable patience you exhibited on the Cross”. \u00a0Then, as you go through the day, keep track of the opportunities God gives you to practice it. \u00a0Thank Him for the opportunities. \u00a0Then, prayerfully attempt to respond patiently. \u00a0Throughout the day, keep track of your response to the situations that present themselves – the light that turns red right before you get there, the computer that slows down when you need to get something done, the customer that talks rudely to you, the child who demands that you stop what you are doing in order to take him and his friend to the movies, etc.. \u00a0 At night, before you go to bed, do an examination of conscience focusing solely on patience – literally, how many times did I act patiently even when I might have felt impatient? \u00a0How many opportunities did I have? \u00a0Offer both your successes and your failures to God. \u00a0Do this for a month. \u00a0You may be amazed at the outcome – the impact of your focused work coupled with God’s grace.<\/p>\n

Third, patience requires prayer<\/strong>. \u00a0Once a friend asked if they could pray for anything for us. \u00a0We asked her to pray for patience for us. \u00a0She kindly refused, saying that she would pray for anything but patience. \u00a0When asked why, she responded with the following, “if I do, God will send you situations that require patience. \u00a0I can’t be responsible for those situations.” \u00a0She spoke the truth. \u00a0If we ask for a virtue, we must practice that virtue which means we must be placed in situations that require that virtue. \u00a0So, maybe instead of just praying for patience, we might ask for both the grace to recognize the situation as an opportunity to practice it and the grace to respond patiently.<\/p>\n

Finally, patience requires an act of the will<\/strong>. \u00a0Patience is a virtue, not an emotion. \u00a0We may feel impatience welling up inside of us, but that feeling is not a vice. \u00a0It’s just a feeling. \u00a0How we choose to act is where virtue and vice are determined. \u00a0Will patience in spite of the impatient feelings. \u00a0When that person cuts in front of you in line and you begin to feel impatient, will patience with God’s help.<\/p>\n

Remember that in order to evangelize anyone and particularly our children, we need to be patient. \u00a0Patient with our failures, with their failures, with their inconsiderateness, with their lack of thoughtfulness, or with their lack of being there to help with the groceries. \u00a0If we exhibit patience, they will catch a glimpse of God Himself, the whole point of evangelization. \u00a0They will see in us a God who is patient with us when we sin, a God who patiently waits for us to turn around and come back to Him. \u00a0If they see that, our words about this God will be more readily received. \u00a0Our evangelization will be more effective. \u00a0We will be evangelical parents by living out the mystery of parenthood, by making visible the patience and love of our invisible God. \u00a0Let’s commit today to cultivate patience! \u00a0May God bless us all in our attempts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The third attitude of evangelical parenthood is patience. \u00a0As we write this, we’ve just returned from a stint at the grocery store – one that we thought was going to be 30 minutes. \u00a0An hour and a half later, we’ve just put up the last of the groceries. \u00a0And \u2026. where are\/were our children? \u00a0Somewhere… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[671],"tags":[55,51,127,2107,2258,62,50,2890,81,2001,165],"class_list":["post-44596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-column","tag-catholic-2","tag-catholicism","tag-children","tag-christian-parenthood","tag-evangelical-parenthood","tag-evangelization","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-marriage","tag-mystery-of-parenthood","tag-parenting","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43618,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/four-attitudes-evangelical-parenthood\/","url_meta":{"origin":44596,"position":0},"title":"Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"January 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Parents are called to evangelize their children - to be evangelical parents. \u00a0Yet, all too frequently many of us fail to answer the call to share the \"Good News\" with them because we never preach the Gospel to our children. \u00a0We leave that to the priest in the Sunday homily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/8562320076_7962a945e8_o-241x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45272,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/four-attitudes-evangelical-parenthood-non-judgmental-warmth-welcome\/","url_meta":{"origin":44596,"position":1},"title":"Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: A Non-Judgmental Warmth and Welcome","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"April 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Judge not, that you be not judged\u00a0(Matthew 7:1) The last attitude of evangelism laid out by Pope Francis is a non-judgmental warmth and welcome. \u00a0As parents, our children need to know that we love them regardless of what they do. \u00a0They need to know that they can come to us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ACNM"","block_context":{"text":"ACNM","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/8562320076_7962a945e8_o-241x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44094,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/four-attitudes-evangelical-parenthood-readiness-dialogue-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":44596,"position":2},"title":"Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: Readiness for Dialogue – Part 3","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"March 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The second attitude of Evangelical Parenthood lies in a readiness for dialogue. \u00a0All too often, as a parent, we can be \"preachy\". \u00a0That is, we desire to control any conversation to the extent that there may be a difference of opinion or lack of time. \u00a0We, some of us more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/8562320076_7962a945e8_o-241x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43762,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/four-attitudes-evangelical-parenthood-approachability-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":44596,"position":3},"title":"Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: Approachability – Part 2","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"February 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In order to answer our parental vocation to evangelize our children, Pope Francis says we must be approachable to our kids. \u00a0We must develop and cultivate an attitude of approachability. \u00a0As a parent, you want your children coming to you to ask difficult questions, right?! \u00a0After all, if they don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/8562320076_7962a945e8_o-241x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41357,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/mystery-parenthood-gods-vulnerability\/","url_meta":{"origin":44596,"position":4},"title":"The Mystery of Parenthood: God’s Vulnerability","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"August 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.\u00a0(Matthew 10:16) We've been contemplating this concept of the mystery of parenthood for years - the idea of living parenthood with a heightened sacramental sense. \u00a0We've attempted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"http:\/\/www.dreamstime.com\/royalty-free-stock-image-mystery-image28583466","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/dreamstimemaximum_28583466-2-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42689,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/pope-francis-teaching-parenthood\/","url_meta":{"origin":44596,"position":5},"title":"Part 5 of 6 – Pope Francis, Teaching, and Parenthood","author":"Trey and Stephanie Cashion","date":"December 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As with previous Popes, Francis teaches. \u00a0It's his job so to speak. \u00a0As parents, we also are called to be the first and primary teachers, the \"first heralds\" of the faith to our children. \u00a0We can learn a great deal about fulfilling that role by watching him do his job.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Francis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Pope-Francis-010-300x180.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}