Patience may be a virtue but it is definitely one that I have very little of. I have no patience for people, for trains, for slow explanations, sometimes I just have no patience for anything. I'm sure it can be learned, but I'm just not sure I have the patience for that.
I bought my brother a plant for his birthday almost two years ago, and recently noticed that he re-potted it and it is growing big and tall. It is nice to see that he can take care of plants, and they do look pretty in his living room.
My sister-in-law gave me a plant for my birthday, and while it is a sweet gesture, it seems she doesn't know me very well. Unless she is trying to teach me a lesson, much the same way teachers make their students take care of fake babies. I went home for Shavuos and forgot to ask someone to water it, and when I got back it was bone dry and droopy. I think I revived it, and now I leave it right near the sink to remind me to water it. Poor plant.
Good things take time. Time that I think I don't have, until I find myself bored with nothing to do and lots of time. But I'm bored and I want things to happen NOW. Why should I have to wait for good things?
Plants take years and years to grow big, and the only way to ensure that they get there is by taking care of them and watering them regularly. And having extreme patience. If you sit there and watch it grow and see no movement and get frustrated and destroy it- you will never see any change.
Yes it is hard. It is hard to stand around in a roomful of strange people that I don't know, with the spotlight on one girl enjoying her moment, and wishing that was me.
It is so hard to have patience with people who talk slow or funny, or when you are starving and want your food to cook faster. It is hard to be in school for years and work slowly and patiently to get a degree.
I'm not going to magically become the most patient person overnight, but it definitely helps to take a step back and say "calm down and let things take their course, and G-d Willing good things will come your way."
A member of my family is a slow talker. Well not really slow, just over explains things after you've already got it. It gets frustrating, but it helps me grow, keep my patience in check.
ReplyDeletePatience is a good thing to have but hard to learn.
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