In this age of instant downloads and the convenience of getting everything with just the click of a mouse, we are getting increasingly impatient. Life is so much easier to navigate with the host of gadgets that have been invented since the early 1900s and yet we all complain that we don’t have time. We can’t wait for stuff to happen! We want to jump headlong into situations even when we are not ready. Don’t get me wrong. Patience is not to be confused with passiveness. There is a time to sow and reap and there is a time to wait for mother nature to do her thing.
I do know a thing or two about patience. I had to wait 8 years to get my license, after being denied even a measly permit. I had to wait 9 years to get a job. And 10 years to finally find a sense of purpose and finally be happy with ‘me’. And ‘me’ was never the patient type to start with. I had to have everything ‘now’ or all hell would break loose. If I was hungry I wanted the food ‘now’. If I was sleepy I would just drop down and sleep. It was like everything revolved around needy little me.
I learnt my first lesson in patience when pregnant with my first child. You see, you have to wait the whole 9 months to see or hold your baby. You don’t want to rush it and harm the baby in the process. So I waited and waited and she finally arrived and brought with her lesson 2 of patience. A baby’s cry takes precedence over other mundane things like cooking, cleaning, showering, changing clothes stained with spit up and even sleeping! They simply have to wait while you attend to your wailing baby. She was like my earlier avatar – needy little ‘me’. By the time baby number 2 arrived I was on my knees begging for mercy. No more lessons in patience for me please!
Gardening teaches you a thing or two about patience. You sow your seeds and keep watering the soil even when you don’t see any seedlings. You know the seeds are in there because you put them there. If you continue watering them (given that you are patient enough to do that) they will eventually sprout and poke their tiny heads through the soil. Now imagine all your wishes are seeds you plant in the universe, you can’t be like me and say you want it now! You have to be like the gardener who keeps nurturing that seed till it blossoms and manifests your heart’s desire. You can’t pull the petals of a bud open, you will ruin the flower. You have to let it take its time to blossom.
I remember when we had science projects at school, we often used mustard seeds to create ‘paddy fields’ in our dioramas. Why mustard seeds? Because they sprout very quickly. In just 2 days you’d have lush green miniature paddy fields. Something that tiny has the power to sprout and grow if the right conditions are provided. So have the faith of a mustard seed and you can manifest things out of thin air! I think faith and patience go hand in hand. It’s my faith that the universe will deliver that keeps me from throwing in the towel too soon.
If the things you want don’t turn up then you need to take a closer look at the gardener (that’s YOU) . Have you provided the right conditions for your seed to sprout and flourish or are you choking it with negativity? Weed out the negativity and see what happens.
Be patient but not passive. If you need to take action do so with courage and one-pointed focus.
I know people who waited 10 years for a baby or 6 years for the right man to show up and they all think it was worth the wait. Don’t ever settle for second best or compromise on your dreams and aspirations, just because they don’t show up when you want them to. Divine timing is always perfect and God is the world’s best gardener. All good things come to those who wait.
Who or what has tested your patience in the past? What arrived in your life after years of waiting and was totally worth it? Share it now!
Punctuate Life 
“I think faith and patience go hand in hand. It’s my faith that the universe will deliver that keeps me from throwing in the towel too soon.” Simply Profound.