Patience

I shake my head and laugh at myself a bit, when I remember how I used to think that I was a patient person.  I realize now that I had no idea what the meaning of patience was and how it would come to define my journey.  Before this trial, this test, I would have told you that I could make things happen.  That if there was a will, there was a way.  That if I just kept trying, I could accomplish any goal. 

But as I am learning, that is not always true.  Sometimes, the thing you need to “try” at is simply having patience and let whatever it is unfold at its own pace.

There is nothing simple about this for me. Learning patience will be no easy feat.

With that said, my dad always told me that the best things in life were those you had to work the hardest to get/have. 

If I were the teacher, I’d award myself a solid “C” at this point…average at best.  I’d be a pretty strict teacher too so this grade would be accompanied by a dozen firm swats with the paddle, applied to a bare seat of course, to encourage better efforts.  I digress.

As others have said:

“To lose patience is to lose the battle”  ~ Mahatma Gandi

“Patience attracts happiness; it brings near that which was far” ~ Swahili Proverb

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting” ~ Unknown

“With love and patience, nothing is impossible” ~ Daisaku Ikeda

“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life” ~ Chinese Proverb

One of my greatest mentors, Mr. Oxford, shares that patience is ¹ the ability to stay calm and accept a delay or something annoying without complaining, and ² the ability to spend a lot of time doing something difficult that needs a lot of attention and efforts.

Upon further reflection, learning patience may be the key to learning submission, at least, for this girl.  I say this because not having the control, not being able to make something happen on my own timeline makes me feel very uncomfortable in my own skin.  Rather than stay the course and submit to patience, my knee jerk reaction is to consider changing directions, abandon hope, or rail against the very outcome I wish to procure.  This is childish, and I can do better.

I will do better.

With love and in deep reflection,

Nora