Teaching's #1 Virtue: Patience

Although I'm not teaching anymore, I still think about it periodically. I mean, you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the teacher out of the soul. And, it doesn't help that I've been subbing on and off this month.

I've mentioned before that my favorite time during the school year has been the first term. For the most part, students are just as excited and enthusiastic as the teachers. Teachers are happy, have creative new lesson plans prepared, and students willingly participate and do homework. But, around this time--late October and early November, the first term ends...and, metaphorically, so does the "honeymoon stage" of the new school year.

And patience becomes hard. Like, sometimes impossibly hard. But it is needed. And, it's always something that I've felt I was weak at.

I do thoroughly and whole-heartedly believe that teaching (no matter what kind of setting) was my God-given calling. But, not only does God use your talents for His good, he also uses those situations to teach you as well. And, boy did I learn a lot about His grace and patience while teaching.

This is the biggest lesson I learned during my 3 years of teaching:

Just as I told my students that each day was a new day, a day to be better behaved, a day to earn a better grade, a day to be more humble, a day to be more responsible, a day to be happier, it was a new day each day for me as well. If I had lost my patience (and sometimes, my cool) with my students, the next day was a new day, a new beginning, and always started with a smile on my face, and love for my students emanating from me. I spent numerous evenings and mornings on my knees asking Heavenly Father for more patience and forgiveness for my impatient behavior.

Being patient with students not only helps my attitude, but it also helps their attitude. The classroom becomes a safe environment, and one of willingness to work together. It harbors a better learning mentality and allows us all to make good memories.

I guess I still haven't learned as much about patience as He would have liked me to, because He loves to use Rhys to help teach me patience still. It has always been one of my weaknesses, and I will always try to live up to His expectations on patience.

When or how do you use patience in your career?

15 Lessons My Mother Taught Me

The older I've grown, the more experiences I have, the more responsibilities I get, the more I appreciate my mom. I look back and think about how much she has taught me and prepared me for my own life, and how much she still does so.

My mom's birthday is tomorrow.  So, I decided to work together to list some lessons my mom has taught me.

** You catch more flies with honey; however, there are some circumstances that require bitter-sweet honey.

** A clean house not only is a house of God, but also allows relaxation and you won't be embarrassed when company comes.

** It doesn't matter if you succeed...what matters is how hard you tried.

** Pound the pavement and work hard.

** A basic musical background is very helpful throughout life.

** Family is most important.

** Backup everything!

** It's ok to not be perfect, because you aren't supposed to be. And that's ok.

** Don't take your husband for granted.

** Knowing how to do simple cleaning and chores is something you should know how to do before you leave the house. (Seriously! My freshman college year, I knew girls who not only didn't know how to do laundry, load a dishwasher, or even Windex a sink mirror!)

** Delegate and ask for help--you don't have to do everything yourself.

** Don't be judgmental (I'm still working on this one).

** Learn from your parents' mistakes and do better.

** Have a strong testimony, but don't rely on your parents' testimonies.

** My mom will love me no matter what and will always be there for me!

I love you, Mom! Happy birthday!

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Kim from Kandy Kreations

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Kim is the kreator of Kandy Kreations, a blog all about DIY prints, children's activities, party themes, and candy coverings. Kim calls herself the Queen of Parties, and just by looking at the style of her blog, you can see that's true! She has at least one (that's right, sometimes more than one) post a day! She never runs out of ideas to make gifts and life more fun!

Check out her blog here.

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