Praying for Patience

On of our favorite family flicks is Evan Almighty (one of the exceptions to the rule, where the sequel is actually better than the original). In the beginning of this movie the mother is praying for her family to be closer. As the story goes on, her husband is called to be a modern day Noah and build an arc. Try as he might, he cant avoid it and everyone, including his wife, thinks he has gone crazy. Its funny, symbolic and full of  clever little gems that make you think.

*Spoiler Alert* One of my favorite of these little 'gems' is later in the movie when the wife is having a conversation with God and He tells her:

"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

I LOVE this quote. I have always tried to remember it.

Lately I have been praying for patience. And sometimes I feel like this poor guy:


       
"Bless me with patience... Not opportunities to be patient, I've had plenty of those and they don't seem to be working. The actual patience..."

Hahaha, but seriously, have we not all felt like this at times?

So what do we do? Stop praying for something for fear that God will actually answer our prayers--but not in the way we intend?

No. I think this is when we have to put our trust in Him. Trust that He has a wonderful and miraculous plan for each of us. He knows our worth and our potential. He knows what we are capable of and what we can become.

So when we pray, and things don't turn out the way we expect, we need to trust in Him. That the struggles we face are opportunities for Him to mold and perfect us into the men and women He knows we can become; that the circumstances we face are apart of His infinite wisdom and plan for us; and that He will finish what He has started in our lives--if we let Him.

It was General Conference this weekend and it was wonderful! I felt like it was the week before Christmas I was so excited. And it did not disappoint :) I am always amazed how general conference is in fact so personal to the things we need at that time in our lives. Our Heavenly Father truly knows and loves us.

In preparation for last Aprils General Conference I found the COOLEST idea to do with little ones. You basically print off pictures of all the apostles and prophet, as well as all the presidencies of the auxiliaries (paste on cardstock and 'laminate' with contact paper) and then as a speaker comes up to the pulpit the child matches them with their pictures and tapes it up onto a picture of a pulpit. I really liked this idea because it wasn't just a distraction game for the kids to play, but something that would get them into conference and help them pay attention. My girls just so happened to love it too! win-win right!?

Pinterest credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/570972058985746987/

got the pictures from this site (https://www.pinterest.com/mrschberg/general-conference/)

...This go around we also added a General Conference bingo card with pictures of various topics (such as the prophet, singing, prayer, temple, etc.). This was a little trickier (1) because they really wanted to eat the animal cracker markers haha and (2) they are still young enough that I really had to help them pay attention and do it--which meant I couldn't pay attention as much. 

 I decided that I would spend the morning sessions helping them get the most out of conference and then I would just listen and enjoy the second sessions while they napped haha.

On Sunday morning at one point they went up to Junes room to play, and it was nice because it was quiet, but then I had this feeling like I should go get them just so they could be with us while General Conference was on and feel the spirit of it--and then they came back down, and were with us for the rest of it--problem solved. :)

Sometimes its hard to know what the best thing is to help our little ones with these things, but I hope its something they will come to cherish and look forward to the way we do. Even if they cant totally understand it now.

What do you do to help your little ones during conference?