PATIENCE!

[This essay was written a year ago, during a 'year that never was,' and a time of nearly unendurable change in the way we lived, or even want to live. I won't say COVID and 2020 taught me Patience--that would be boasting; but I will say that I'm learning, slowly, how to cut myself some slack so my days are easier to bear. After all, having lived so long, I might as well go on living. And assuredly, Patience is going to be required some time or other.]

Practically everyone has heard the ironic prayer: "Lord, give me patience, and right now!"

The importance of patience in our lives isn't easily defined--isn't easily obtained--and certainly isn't going to appear by a genie floating out of a bottle with a cloud of Patience to wrap us in.

Patience--like many other good and desirable characteristics--begins at home.

My daughter shared her thoughts on Patience: There's an element we call letting go--of preconceived ideas about what should happen, of timelines that suit us.

Most of all--we need to avoid the trap of thinking lack of success is somehow our own fault. It may be, that's true. But it may not. 

It all boils down to trust--things will happen when they happen. Many factors are out of our control. What seems simple to us may involve countless people between us and success. . . unknown hoops to jump through . . . procedures no one told us about.

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So! Perhaps Patience is not only hard-won but serves a purpose beyond the immediate attainment of a goal--Patience is a lesson to be learned. And if we accept Helen Keller's belief, the only way to learn Patience is through non-joyful events and circumstances.

I can't say I'm thrilled to suffer, even in a minor way, in order to learn Patience. But if I can accept that premise, then I know I'm in good company, for everyone is learning along with me.

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Hal Borland wrote many essays and books about nature. He lived among trees and mountains and gardens. He observed life through the lens of nature. And he shared his insights into human life by exploring and explaining life in the natural world.

People who live close to the land, like farmers, or who find joy in gardening and landscaping, know that Patience is a standard requirement if the end result, the harvest, is going to happen. 

Patience, along with persistence, is what accompanies the carpenter who builds a house, the sewist who embarks on a year-long project to make a quilt, the student who works year by year toward graduation; or the artist who brings a scene to life, the writer who tells the story of real people or fictional characters, the musician who practices for hours (perhaps for years) for one performance.

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My own understanding of Patience has come with age and aging. In my youth I was eager to get on, go higher and farther, not spend too much time in any one place or time. Keep going! More often than not, I got in my own way. 

Having children was a full-on lesson in Patience--every day, practically every hour, Patience was required. (Sadly, I wasn't very good at that lesson. Took a long time to cultivate a sense of letting go of unrealistic expectations.)

In an odd way, our current pandemic has increased my sense of Letting Go and biding my time. I can't make a difference in the curing of the virus. But I can look for ways to be safe and keep other people safe. Yes, I mourn the loss of freedoms we had--such as going to church, worshiping in person, receiving communion. But my life has slowed down and not only do I smell the roses, I see sunsets and meteor showers and planets that don't often come our way. 

Have a blessed week! And may Patience be yours.