Patient

Today I meandered down a familiar path. It wasn't a serious walk, with the intent of getting my heart rate up (let's be honest, most walks now are not...). Rather, I had been teaching all day and I had a meeting at 6 PM so I wanted to get a little fresh air. I tied my tennis shoes, clicked the "Run" mode on my fitbit (even though I WOULD NOT be running), and headed out the door. My favorite podcast was playing and it was actually nice to put one foot in front of the other with no particular destination. The air was comfortable and it was overcast and I inhaled, deep. 

I glanced up to see a squirrel scamper up a tree branch and thought of how we each have our place in this world. One particular tree caught my eye. I noticed how it seemed as if the leaves had changed since even yesterday and thought of how it was a gradual progress until one day you wake up and the world is a brilliant orange, red, and yellow... until it rains or the wind blows and those leaves are being crunched underneath. 

Nature has a way of being patient that isn't part of our human makeup; at least, not mine. I don't like gradual, but I don't like change, either...a  contradiction of terms, I guess. Maybe it's the sense of lack of control that waiting entails... we sit there, not knowing if anything is even happening, and the uncertainty is the hardest part, for me, at least. 

And then, just like the leaves on the hillside, you wake up to find that things are different than what you expected. 

That can be a good thing or a bad thing. 

The thing is, those trees that are gradually changing... the process is the same, every year. There are things going on in the tree that we can't see. 

There are changes going on internally that we can't see in ourselves, even... a slow process of maturing. The tree can't do anything to speed up the process. Neither can we. 

 Patience is a virtue that I don't possess, and I've been told to never pray for patience... but tonight, on my walk, I was reminded again that God is in the process. He's in the details. He's in the waiting. 

And when the time is fulfilled, those seeds that germinated in the dark will burst forth, and you'll shine like the sun. 

We can learn a lot from nature if we just pay attention...

and be intentional about being patient. 

If only it wasn't so hard. <3