Day 15: PATIENT

Our Give-Away for Today!

Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti: 

Understanding and Delighting in Your Differences

Have you ever thought, "I know my spouse is different than me but what am I supposed to do with the differences?" This is the book that will forever change the way you relate to the one you love. Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti will help you:

• Lower the stress in your home

• Turn frustration with your spouse into fascination

• Create an environment of mutual support and achievement.

• Stop conflict before it starts.

• Lighten the mood in your home.

• Laugh together more often.

• Enjoy sex more often with your spouse.

• Use forgiveness to make your relationship easier.

The Farrels explain why a man is like a waffle (each element of his life is in a separate box) and a woman is like spaghetti (everything in her life touches everything else). A unique and fun look at the different ways men and women regard life a terrific tool for not only marriage, but also for a reader's relationships at work, at home, at church, and with friends.

Pam Farrel is an international speaker, author of over 30 books including best selling Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti, 10 Best Decisions a Woman Can Make, 10 Best Decisions a Couple Can Make, Red Hot Monogamy,  10 Best Decisions a Parent Can Make, Devotions for Women on the Go, LOL with God, Got Teens?, and 52 Ways to Wow Your Husband.

Pam is the Co-Director of Love-Wise (www.Love-Wise.com) and Founder of Seasoned Sisters (www.seasonedsisters.com). Connect with Pam on Facebook at Pam Farrel and Bill and Pam Farrel!

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“I’m gonna have to leave tomorrow's blog post blank,” I told Daniel.

“Why?” he asked.

“Day 15’s word is patient!”

“Oh.”

Two Things I Know + a Story

I know two things about being … er… becoming patient.

And I have a story that illustrates both.

#1 Thing I Know About Becoming Patient

I need to Slow Down. 

Leave earlier. Attempt less. Handle dishes carefully. Avoid furniture corners.

Much of my impatience is caused by being in such a hurry with a such a long checklist!

And my hurry causes speeding tickets...which cost precious money (which took time to earn.) 

My hurry causes broken glass...which takes time to clean up. 

My hurry causes bruises...which hurt and take time to heal. 

My Choleric friends and I are trying to live by a new mantra:  “We are ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives!”

Trying.

(Oh, so trying!)

#2 Thing I Know About Becoming Patient

I need to Be Still. 

As in “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10a)

As in: First be still, so that you can know that I am God. 

God never withholds himself from me. 

But when I am am still, I am open to knowing him. 

(And vice versa.)

The Story

Eight years ago, Daniel and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary by running off to a lovely B&B in Big Bear Lake, California. 

After feasting on waffles and omlettes the first morning, we sat together on the porch swing. 

Well, physically we were together.

My mind was elsewhere. In Choleric over-drive, it was making a mental list of everything we could accomplish: 

We're up early (I hate sleeping in -- such a waste of time!) so we have a good head start on the day. If we get a move on, we can get to the local zoo when it opens, hit the shops by 11:00 AM, have lunch just after noon, check out the nature center in the early afternoon, rent canoes around 3:00 PM, and then . . . 

My mental hamster wheel screeched to a halt as Daniel pulled me close in an affectionate hug. Heaving a sigh of utter contentment, he said, "It's so peaceful and quiet. I'd be perfectly happy just sitting right here all day long."

I froze in fear. No, make that terror. 

"Peaceful" and "quiet" were bad enough. 

But far more ominous were those three little words: 

"all. day. long." 

After a decade-and-a-half of matrimony, I knew Daniel meant what he'd said. 

And I didn't have to check my watch or do math on a napkin to realize that I'd just been sentenced to nine hours of "sitting right here." 

I wonder if I can leave him here all day while I go... did cross my mind. (I discarded the idea when I thought of his friends ribbing him, "So you took the little woman to a fancy B&B, and she left you to go shopping?") 

I considered arguing for my plan, but he looked, well, so peaceful and so happy, I didn't have the heart. I resigned myself to my fate: a day of doing absolutely nothing.

So we sat, in the peace and quiet of the forest. 

As my I-hate-it-when-my-plans-get-changed resentment ebbed, I noticed things I'd missed earlier: the blue sky, the piney air, the flitting birds. 

I felt my brain dial down a few notches, my shoulder tension relax a bit, my drive to "do something, anything!" dissipate. 

We really did "sit right here" all day. 

And I lived to tell the tale! (When Daniel fell asleep, I did tip-toe back to our room for a book...) 

At the end of the day, I was more peaceful and quiet than I'd been in months. I felt like I'd finally been able to exhale after holding my breath for a very long time.

Slow Down + Be Still = Becoming Patient

(Can't see image? Click here to download 1 Cor. 13:4!)

Do you have the PURSE-onality gifts of Slowing Down and Being Still? 

If so, who are you blessing with these invaluable gifts?

If not, who is blessing you by sharing these much-needed gifts? 

Try This Today:  For 5 minutes, Slow Down and Be Still. No doing. Just being in His presence, open to knowing He is God.

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To enter today’s drawing, leave a comment 

• responding to today’s blog, and/or

• sharing your Day #1-15 experience of replacing “baditude” with God’s word and gratitude, and/or

• about anything else on your heart!

Drawing winners 6-10 will be announced soon!

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(Catch up on any "Warm-Up Week" Blog Posts!)