Good things don't come to those who wait.
Good things don’t come to those who wait. Good things come to those who nurture.
I’m a gardener, and I’m always in awe at how many of life’s issues can be illustrated by the garden. It’s like my own little therapy/ enlightenment center. I suppose that’s why wisdom has fallen off in recent decades, the garden and farm was once the center of life and sustenance. Nature is a powerful teacher and healer.
Anyways, back to the point of this. I was raised in the school of thought that good things come to those who wait; told to have patience and doors will open if it’s meant to be. Patience is a virtue. If one door closes, another one will open. You know the cliches.
Well, the older I get the more I’ve come to realize that this advice is damaging and a lie. The smart ones realize this. Good things don’t just happen.
When you plant a seed, there is a time that seems passive, we don’t see the work happening beneath the soil, in the darkness and dirt and fertilizer. This is the time you hear those cliches. If you’re not careful, you can become passive. But a seed left unwatered, unfed, and without sunshine won’t grow. It must be nurtured.
A good life, the next move, the next chapter you are striving for doesn’t just happen. No matter how much you attempt to will it to life, it needs specific nutrients. Intention is very important, clarity in intention is more important. If you plant a seed and you aren’t really sure what it is, you may be giving it the wrong amount of nutrients. Not enough sun, too much water, too much heat.
You must know what you want, what fruit you want to bear. You must allow for the season of seemingly ineffectiveness, this sometimes feels like being in the darkness - uncertain that this is even going to work. This is important work. You must feed yourself the nutrients your vision needs.
I think our culture has made this part of the journey undesirable. There is pressure, stress, fear of the unknown, and humans will do anything to not feel that. We escape, rather than step into it. We run harder, instead of sitting and feeling and nurturing it.
Change is hard. Stress is real. A fruitful life is worth it. But that fruitful life won’t be possible until you grab up your responsibility to get out in the garden and tend to it.
