Patience

Thought:
Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!
(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Continue in Patience,” Ensign, May 2010, 56–59.)

Song:
“Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked,” Children’s Songbook, p. 214.
Scripture:
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
(Mosiah 3:19)

Lesson:
Ask your family members if they have ever heard the phrases “hold your horses” or “keep your shirt on.” Ask, What quality is being requested by those phrases? (Patience.)
Have family members read Romans 5:1–5 and look for what Paul taught about patience. Ask:
• How can we have “peace with God”? • What did Paul say helps us learn patience? • Whom should we learn to rely on when faced with tribulation? • What blessing comes to us through the Holy Ghost? Read the following by Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “Patience is tied very closely to faith in our
Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than his. Either way we are questioning the reality of God’s omniscience [knowledge].” (Ensign, Oct. 1980, 28.)
Ask: • How can we show our faith in Heavenly Father? • Why is it important to recognize that God knows what is best for us? • How might this knowledge help us get through trials? Testify to your family that patience is one way we come to be more Christlike. Remind
your family that patience gives us the hope that Christ’s Atonement will save us.

Story:
Louise Lake
One afternoon following the start of physical therapy treatment, I was resting in bed. As the sky darkened, there was a warm heavy spring rain. That day, defying the drench of the downpour, a robin came and stood for a moment or two outside my window ledge. The amazing thing was that he was singing his song while the water pelted on him. My eyes drank in this sight. It was like a gift, a new promise of life to me. The rain and darkened skies no longer made it a dreary day.
In those hospital days I saw, as well as was the recipient of, considerate attention, patience, and forbearance. This place became my home. I like to think that nurses, doctors, and other patients felt the same way. . .
One afternoon a pretty brunette nurse said she was planning marriage following her graduation. I asked about her wedding plans. In those days hats were a "must" in fashion, a kind of special frosting for any wedding. I at once took a leap in the light.
"Could I make your 'going-away' wedding hat?" I asked.
She hesitated. I knew she was wondering
(1) what will it look like? and
(2) where can you find the needed muscle power in your fingers and hands?
Quickly I assured her (I was also assuring myself) that in my pre-paralysis years I had attended millinery classes while living in Portland, Oregon. Techniques in making beautiful hats, as well as the styles in high fashion, were part of my stock in trade.
She breathed with relief and said, "I would love that."
Knowing her bridal colors, we combed the yellow pages of the telephone directory for a wholesale millinery outlet. Then I clumsily wrote out a list of materials and she set out to buy them.
Soon I was surrounded with needles, thread, buckram, trimmings, and all the other sewing sprawl. It was good that there were several weeks before the appointed day.
The adventure of hat making began. I struggled with the needle to make the stitches neat and strong. The weakness of my fingers and hands was more in focus. Though it was an exhausting task, the chapeau began to take form. I tired quickly and therefore rested frequently. None of us had realized what solid therapy this self-induced pressure would bring. Then one day it dawned on me that the muscles in my fingers and hands were definitely gaining strength and they could get stronger still!
It was President Heber J. Grant, that great master spirit in the building of the Church, who so beautifully taught this truth from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself has changed, but that our power to do is increased."
When the hat, which was by now a hospital conversation piece, was completed, there was wild enthusiasm among the nurses. A line on the right had formed, as each girl took her turn to have a favorite hat made. It took unlimited patience, but the working hours passed quickly. At times the room looked like the backroom of a millinery shop, and three large dresser drawers were full of hat supplies. The nurses and I kept it a secret that I was working for them. The doors would quickly open and close and a nurse would remove her white cap to try on her hat before the mirror. Whenever a supervisor or someone from the administration chanced to be around, the girl would scamper out of there like a chaff in the wind.
During the remainder of the time in the hospital I made fifteen hats. The girls looked tré chic! And the energy investment had paid off for me—not in dollars, for I naturally wouldn't accept money, but in the development of human resources. I was incredibly enriched. I hope many of those nurses have become happy grandmothers by now.

Activity:
Instruct the family that on the word go you are going to start measuring one minute by the clock. They should also try to measure one minute, but without the clock. (Hint: While the time is running, talk to the family and ask them questions. It will make it hard for them to count in their heads when they have to think about what you are saying.)
When they think one minute is up they are to say “Stop.” When the first person says “Stop,” you look at the clock. If they are on time within ten seconds either way, they receive two points. If they are within five seconds they receive five points. If the guess was exactly right, they receive ten points.
Play for five rounds.
Ask what was difficult in this activity. One of the hardest things to do is to wait. Discuss as a family times we have to wait. One time we have to wait is when we pray to Heavenly Father. We have a hard time being quiet and waiting for Heavenly Father to answer us.

Refreshment
Hot Spinach Dip
1 package (10 ounces) frozen creamed spinach, thawed
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese 1⁄4 cupmayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
9 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Mix all ingredients except half the Parmesan cheese. Spread in 9x9-inch pan, and sprinkle other half of Parmesan on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve with chips or crackers.