On Patience; Kids Say the Darndest Things Vol. 2

Patience is by far the most stressed of virtues in Islam...I myself don't possess much of it. But in my prayers I have been asking for its increase for quite some time, and aH I can say that I have felt it grow in certain aspects of my life.

But the reason I'm writing about patience is not to talk about myself, but about something very cute and touching that Naurene, the younger of my twin sisters, did the other day. It reminded me of this story on Sunnipath about the patience (or impatience, rather) of children.

The other night, while I was praying Isha I heard Naurene come in and ask me if she could have her cheese snack (it doesn't sound like a big deal but we have a rule where they have to ask before they eat any snacks, so they don't have too many in one day). She immediately noticed I was praying, and instead of leaving, she stood next to me against my bed and watched me pray. Farhene, her twin, called her, to which she replied: "Hold on! I have to wait for her to finish praying!" My mom called her as well and she asked my mom to please wait also.

Even as I prayed, it was quite distracting and really hard not to notice her cute little legs standing so patiently next to me; I tried my best to not get teary ;-(. The day before, she had walked in front of me by mistake while I prayed, and I had been a little mean in how I explained to her why she shouldn't. I guess the importance of salat really got through to her and mashAllah it was just amazing how she thought the respectful thing to do was to stand and wait and watch, even though she could have just come back later. All motivated by a little girl's love for cheese! I hugged her after and told her she was a very good girl for not bothering me, and told her I would get her something tomorrow, to which she replied as she walked out: "I don't like lollipops, anything but those."

Here are a few gems from this week, courtesy of the twins:

Naurene: I don't know why we had the fire drill, there wasn't even a fire, they lied!

Farhene: Don't be silly, don't you know it's so we can learn how to be good in danger?!

Me: Who delivered the Gettysburg Address?

Naurene: Martin Luther King?

Me: No, but that's close in a way...

Farhene: George Washington?
Naurene (to Farhene): No, dummy, George Washington helped only the White people!

Farhene: Oh! Abraham Lincoln!