Opinion

Be patient, things happen at their own time

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Hi neighbors. Is it too much to hope that winter has finally folded its tent and left Vernon County to allow spring to blossom? Time will tell.

As with most things, resolution only comes with the passage of time. Patience is a virtue I have been told, and I have figured out there is no difference and no preference when patience is involved. It doesn't really matter if you have patience or not; actually patience isn't something to "have" or something to achieve.

Patience is recognizing that when you can do nothing to hurry things along, you are forced to realize that things move at their own pace anyway. You just have to wait for the time to arrive.

Imagine a goal, like becoming a teenager. You remember now that you couldn't hurry as quickly as you wanted to into the double digits of your life's calendar that represented birthdays that ended with the word "teen." You had to wait. You may have tried pretending you were a teenager; even given great emphasis on "tween" birthdays. But there is a difference in being 10 and being 13 years old.

Parents learn patience about this same subject as their children enter into the tween and teen years. Perhaps if society didn't place so much emphasis on these years the entire process of growing up wouldn't be so traumatic and chaotic.

Waiting for time to pass seems to be a hopeless example of lack of patience. How many times in the years I worked did I moan that I couldn't wait until retirement to start enjoying some spare time to do things I wanted to do?

Since retirement I find myself trying to remember some of those things I couldn't wait to do. It seems I also lack the vitality to do most of those things. I think I burned up all of my vitality being impatient!

Impatience doesn't appear to be a problem for me any more since I've become one of the "elders." I've discovered that getting somewhere rapidly doesn't seem to make much difference in the long run. Even being on time isn't such a big thing. I used to arrive at least 15 minutes early to every meeting, appointment or event. Now I count myself lucky to get there in time to find a place to sit down; even if the show has already started or the entertainment is already in full gear.

Getting any where early isn't nearly as important as finding where I'm going and getting there before it's time to get back home for a favorite television show.

Seeing the robins hopping around in the snow the other day reminded me that they seemed to have jumped the gun on getting back to Missouri this year. But then, I don't know what the weather was like where they came from.

The pear trees are full of white blossoms; some flowers have popped up, trees are showing leaf buds and I heard the ice cream van last week! Hurry spring! Come on summer!

Until the next time friends, remember, we've all been guilty of wanting something "now!" instead of later. All this usually does is make us impatient and frustrated. Some processes can't be forced into early entry into our lives. Most things that we want the most are worth waiting for ... nice weather for instance.

While we complain about the cold, my friend in New Jersey is still living in the aftermath of a blizzard with more snow anticipated. It seems the Eastern seacoast has been hit hard by all types of weather in the last couple of years. Tip: stay in Missouri!