Sunday, July 24, 2011

Patience and Hope



I woke up last week filled with anticipation. I had an interview scheduled with a potential client that I was genuinely looking forward to, an optimistic to-do list, and it was Monday....another opportunity for a week of endless possibility. But sometimes, no matter how optimistic we are, the Universe just seems to have other plans. My appointment never showed up, and the phone calls and emails I was expecting never happened, add to that a misunderstanding with a potential client and by the end of the day I was ready to push the pause button on the week and get back into bed for a month. Yes, it was one of those days. The sort of day where you feel like no matter what you do you are just running in place while wearing painful stilettoes.

Those are the days where if you are paying attention, and when you least expect it, the Universe will serve you up a life lesson on a glistening silver platter. My lesson came from a tiny little packet of seeds. About a week ago I decided that this year I was going to grow my own flowers and vegetables from scratch. I purchased a handful of various types of seeds, planted them all in those little eco-friendly cups and waited. Like a little girl on Christmas morning I have been bouncing down the stairs every day in anticipation of seeing some sort of indication that my little seeds were coming to life. Day after day, I was greeted by the same thing; dirt in a cup. I'm admittedly not the most patient girl in the world so after about four days of watering dirt and waiting for something to happen, all hope for my beautiful garden was essentially gone and my patience had officially run out. After all, I had done my part with the very best of intentions....I planted the seeds, talked to those little cups of dirt, given them plenty of water and light and in return they did nothing.


But then suddenly and without warning, on the fifth day, those little cups magically came to life. Where there was once only dirt and frustration just one day prior, was now an array of tiny little stems barely popping their little heads out above the soil. Hope was restored!! Hour after hour, those amazing little stems seemed to almost double in size and within about three days there were actually little tiny leaves. I am happy to tell you that today, almost every seed seems to have burst wide open and my little cup garden is now happily in its new home in our yard. We are mere days away from the beginnings of what will surely be a bounty of beans, tomatoes, peppers and herbs!


Being the sort of woman who believes that the Universe is always sending me little signs and messages, I looked at those seeds like a great life lesson. Here I was making all of these plans, doing the work, planting the "seeds" and no matter what I did, it felt like nothing was happening. Things were not progressing as quickly as I had hoped and my patience was wearing thin. But if I give up and just throw in the towel, how will I ever know what "could" have happened? How would I ever find out what those seeds might have become if I just stopped watering them?


There are days when it feels as though nothing is happening. The orders are not coming as fast you had hoped they would, people are not calling back, nobody is lining up to show their support for what you have worked so hard to create and life feels as though it is at a stand-still. Those are the days when you have to push yourself the hardest because in the blink of an eye it can all change. The fact of the matter is that although we create timelines and deadlines for ourselves sometimes the Universe is just running on a different schedule. That doesn't mean we give up and it certainly doesn't mean that something fabulous isn't on the way. It might just be that all those little seeds you have been planting are slowly working their way towards the surface, and just because you can't see them growing today, well tomorrow you just never know what can happen!


So, the moral of the story is simple.....plant your seeds with the best of intentions, water them daily, nurture them with care, and most importantly, stay patient and hopeful because one day when you least expect it, those little seeds are going to burst wide open and where there was once only dirt will magically be a bright and beautiful flower! Wishing you a day filled with patience and hope!

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