Patience and Compassion

Having Coffee With Mom

I want to share one of this week's teachable moments with you, and the lesson I learned about patience and compassion.

Life Happens! And, when it does, we should do our best to learn from those moments. Many times the good moments are taken for granted and the bad moments stick with us. The bad moments tend to become fodder for complaints and opportunity for us to curse our bad luck.

We should all be on a constant lookout for teachable moments especially when the negatives pop into our lives. These moments are to be used to first teach ourselves a lesson so that we can help others learn from a misfortune. Kind of difficult to teach something we haven't learned ourselves.

As educators, we are on a constant lookout for teachable moments in order to help our students grow. When the bad happens, those are perfect opportunities to teach a lesson because, unfortunately, the bad moments stick out in our minds more than the good moments.

I was the recipient of a teachable moment this week that came to me from Dr. Mary McDonald, former Catholic Schools superintendent. As we shared family updates, I asked what was to be learned from both my mother and mother-in-law being in memory care facilities? Why do the latter years have to be a struggle for our parents and cause so much stress to the families? Without missing a beat, Dr. McDonald said, "The purpose is to teach you patience and compassion." Whack! That hit me right between the eyes. She took that teachable moment and put it in the upper 90. For you non-soccer people, that means she hit a home run. Patience and compassion are much needed and definitely missing in many parts of our lives.

Let us look to our aging parents, if we are still fortunate enough to have them with us, with more patience and compassion. Let us not curse their situation and be agitated with them because they didn't choose their fate. Let us not be angry with God, He has His plan which is beyond our comprehension. Instead, let us treat those around us, especially the ones most in need, with patience and compassion. Let us replace agitation and judgment with patience and compassion.

If you have elderly parents, don't argue with them and constantly correct them when they are confused. It is not their fault. Try to do more listening than talking. Just be present in the moment. Nod your head in agreement and smile. Hold their hand. Bring them a little gift especially your presence. Be loving, patient, and compassionate. I am a strong believer in what goes around, comes around - Karma! Soon enough, we will be the ones sitting in their place.

As my mission trip students used to say, "See the face of Christ in those you serve. Be the face of Christ in those you serve."

God bless and love you, Didier Aur