Beth's Blog
Patience: a virtue, indeed!
Is it just ME, or do you, too, sometimes find yourself growing impatient when others are not on your schedule or timeline or honoring the same priorities?
PLEASE! Tell me I am not the only one!
I recently responded to what is a very important set of questions after taking several weeks deciding how – and when – I wanted to respond. You know I had to consider all options, all versions, all the ins and outs: my due diligence had to go full circle!
So, I put together my responses, all of my explanations, offered a few alternative options, added the niceties and sent it off. Again, it took me about 3 weeks to push ‘send’.
That brings me to today: day 3! Still no response to the response! The nerve!!!
Of course, I am hoping the party on the other side is approaching this project with the same integrity, commitment – and due diligence – as I. So, why should I grant just 1 day per week it took me to do the same?
Oh, my dear readers: PATIENCE, patience………..
Well, in my family, I don’t think we went through the complete patience cycle when virtues were being distributed. Without a doubt, we easily make up for it in other ways, but patience doesn’t always come easy to all of us!!!
We tend to be decisive – most of us. We know what we like, we know what we will accept, We know what we are prepared to deliver – and we will never not show up; we always get the job done!
But patience? Not so much a lot!! (But, at least I am honest about it: that counts for something; right?)
On that thought, something very interesting crossed my desk today and I want to share the gist of it with you…
Did you know (I did not), that when planted, bamboo remains below ground and invisible for 5 years? Once it appears above ground level, it has been seen to grow as high as 90 feet – 90 feet – in about 6 weeks. That is nothing short of incredible!
Now, it might seem that the bamboo is impatient – it cannot wait to grow; it does so at all but miraculous speed.
Not so!
The bamboo is patient. It plants itself firmly, it grown roots, deep and wide so its eventual height can be supported. That will sustain it – and if you know anything else about bamboo it is resilient and hard to get rid of.
Ah, the plant a seed story!
So, we think, we ponder, we do our due diligence. We plan, we take action – THEN, we want instant gratification!
Failure to plan, not planning well enough, moving too quickly are all ways of not allowing our thoughts, our dreams, our goals, our visions to become fixed in themselves so that growth is possible and sustainable.
I am suddenly thinking about children who want nothing more than to grow up and be, well, ‘grown-up’. How many ‘grown-ups’ do you know who would love to go back in time and recapture the joy of youth? My dad used to say that youth was wasted on the young. What he meant was that we were not wise enough to appreciate it at the time and that we even wished time – the only thing we know we will run out of – away. Ah, the wisdom of the ages!
We are told that good things come to those who wait! Waiting, though, is not enough.
What the mighty bamboo tells us is that if we work our plan our plan will work. (We typically hear that in reverse!)
Be patient with others; give them time to catch your spirit, your energy. Give them room to appreciate your thoughts, your visions: BE PATIENT.
Above all, be patient with those you love – especially yourself (yes, you must love yourself!). As all good parents do for their children, give yourself roots to grow – then, grow your wings and fly. SOAR!!!
So, IS it just me, or do you too, feel today was a great day: we both learned something new.
Let your dreams take root!