People today hate to wait. They want everything instantly. Pronto! There are so many instant products that cater to this desire: instant coffee, instant meals, instant service, etc. Leisure and pleasure seeking are such strong and popular activities; people want them immediately. Even those who would do good would want to see disease, hunger and suffering to vanish instantly. But we are not just human beings but human becomings as well. We are works in progress, always in process. It takes a seed years to grow and become a tree and bear fruit. It takes the earth one year to go around the sun and complete the beautiful passing of the seasons. It takes nine months for a baby to be ready to be born.
Patience is not the stoical acceptance of the waiting but a real appreciation of the process we are in and being actively involved in it. It is caring for the seed that we planted over the time it takes to grow and bear fruit and not being tired of waiting and giving up by uprooting it. It is enjoying the passing of the season, not wanting the day to be over just because it has been difficult or sad for me but seeing it as a step towards the dawning of a new day. It is the joyful anticipation that behind the difficulties of a pregnancy is the beginning of a new life, a new person. I pray for the grace of patience to live fully in the moment.
“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-34