--- title: When Patience Gives Way to Peace description: Sometimes a word of the year changes before the calendar does. Lindsay Schlegel and her family's 2019 word was patience. image: https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-0128-LSchlegel-featured.png --- [![catholic-mom-logo-v2](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/images/catholic-mom-logo-v2.svg "catholic-mom-logo-v2")](https://www.catholicmom.com/) [![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber) [![search-icon](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/search-icon.svg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2020/01/28/when-patience-gives-way-to-peace/#) # When Patience Gives Way to Peace Jan 28, 2020 3:00:13 PM  |  by [Lindsay Schlegel](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/lindsay-schlegel) ![featured image](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-0128-LSchlegel-featured.png) !["When patience gives way to peace" by Lindsay Schlegel (CatholicMom.com)](http://catholicmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-0128-LSchlegel-When-Patience-Gives-Way-to-Peace.png) Image created by the author in [Canva.com](http://canva.com) using free elements.[/caption] Last year, my family chose to have a word of the year. On New Year’s Eve, I sat at our kitchen table with my husband and our four children, then ages eight and under, and clicked on Jennifer Fulwiler’s online [Word of the Year generator](http://www.wordoftheyear.me/). The word we got was ... **patience**. My husband and I looked at each other across the table. I imagine he was thinking what I was thinking: “God, really? Really? ... Okay, fine.” Our kids were more readily on board (not sure they totally thought it through, but it worked out), and we learned a lot about patience through the year — patience with each other, patience with ourselves, and patience with God. The sins I most often bring to Confession result from my patience wearing thin. As hard as it was to accept, I knew God wanted to do a good thing in me. I grew in my awareness of said lack of patience. I started to find ways to catch myself before I lost my temper. I gave people — including myself — more slack. I realized where I had room to grow in trusting the Lord. I didn’t succeed every time, but I made some progress. Our family worked on patience together, reminding and challenging each other as needed. My older kids in particular could appreciate what we were doing. It was a beautiful thing to work on one aspect of our still-developing spiritual lives as a family. I knew I wanted to do it again. At the end of the year, I started to pray about the next year’s word. I asked the Holy Spirit to guide us when we clicked that button. When I made that prayer, I had a sense, even before going online, that our 2020 word should be **peace**. When I’d asked the Lord to help me be patient in certain situations, I’d experienced a good kind of detachment from those things. I wasn’t as emotionally involved in things that I didn’t need to be. I realized I was shouldering less on my own, and I’d learned to trust God more. I was finding peace in situations where I’d committed to patience. My exercise in patience had turned into a lesson in peace. This wasn’t next year’s word; this was the culmination, the evolution, the growth of our current word. Patience had given way to peace. With more prayer, I discerned our word for 2020 should probably be **serve**. We clicked the button on New Year’s Eve anyway, and the Holy Spirit gave us **friendship**. Immediately I could see connections between these two, and I can’t wait to see them unfold. But I will wait, because as St. Teresa of Avila (our saint of the year) said, “Patience achieves everything.” --- *Copyright 2020 Lindsay Schlegel* ### Share this article [![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2020%2F01%2F28%2Fwhen-patience-gives-way-to-peace%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2020%2F01%2F28%2Fwhen-patience-gives-way-to-peace%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2020%2F01%2F28%2Fwhen-patience-gives-way-to-peace%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=When%20Patience%20Gives%20Way%20to%20Peace) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2020%2F01%2F28%2Fwhen-patience-gives-way-to-peace%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2020%2F01%2F28%2Fwhen-patience-gives-way-to-peace%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) ** #### About the Author ![Lindsay Schlegel](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/Lindsay%20Schlegel.jpg) ### [Lindsay Schlegel](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/lindsay-schlegel) Lindsay Schlegel is a daughter of God, wife, mom, editor, and speaker. She’s the author of *Don’t Forget to Say Thank You: And Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God* and host of the podcast *Quote Me with Lindsay Schlegel. Lindsay seeks to encourage, inspire, and lift others up to be all they were created to be. Connect with Lindsay at her website, LindsaySchlegel.com.* [**](https://www.facebook.com/LindsaySchlegelAuthor/) ## Related Blog Articles [ Can I Honestly Say, 'Truly, This Was the Son of God'? 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