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Everywhere we turn, there are simple reminders of how to lead a productive and balanced life. Do you ever stop to take notice of what message the world around you is trying to stir within you? Nature has a wealth of messages in the changing seasons, the flowering fruit trees, or the metamorphosis of the beautiful monarch. My reminder this week? To have patience, preparation, and new growth takes time.
I admit to being a bit overwhelmed in my attempts to juggle the different aspects of life, especially over the past few weeks. This is my first semester of taking a full course load since I was twenty; my slightly weathered brain isn’t as quick to respond as it used to be years ago! My kiddo is adjusting to being a first grader, and I am adjusting to the fact that there are so many equally important tasks to balance and that God only gave me two hands… both of which I am grateful for. (Although secretly, I envy the octopus.) Besides the extremely interesting lessons that I am finding within the pages of my (expensive) textbooks are the ones that life weaves into our experiences. When my child came home from school the other day, we both desperately needed a break outdoors. We spent some time in the yard, soaking up the near perfect Autumnal weather. They even asked me to take my camera with us, and I’m glad that they did. My kiddo gathered a collection of leaves, and twigs, and searched for spider webs and insects. At one point, a little hand reached up to grab a “twirly whirly” maple seedling that was still slightly green and attached to the branch.
“Stop,” I said, “it’s not ready yet!”
The moment those words came out of my mouth, I realized that, maybe, I, too, needed a reminder just to be patient and to let things develop— including myself. I want to be proficient at every single thing I do the first time around… who doesn’t?! I am anxiously awaiting the moment when these little seeds of knowledge that I’m working so hard to develop are mature and ready to fall to fertile land. Having a vision of what is desired in life is wonderful, encouraged even, but it should never get in the way of practicing patience during the ripening season. So, today, I am reminding myself to be patient, and to just have faith that things within my life are just like nature; a perfectly sequenced process to allow new growth to occur under the best circumstances. If God does that for a Maple tree, then surely, that is occurring within my own life as well.
