GUEST BLOG: Patience

To read more of retired Gainesville educator Jane Elder’s blog, Ozark Road, visit gainesvillemo.blogspot.com.

I went down the road today to check on the dogwoods. All the recent freezing weather has me in a tizzy. I’m in a hurry to see all the spring flowers and lovely trees in bloom. I have no patience for spring surprises like snow and low temperatures that bite the petals on the redbud and ruin the peach crop.
But I have learned that patience truly is a virtue. I am not a good cook, or baker, or seamstress. The reason? I am impatient. Why does this wonderful dish take so long to make? I’d love to bake this gorgeous cake, but two hours? I think not. Even cookies try my short attention span .... get ’em in the oven, bake ’em, eat ’em, that’s my plan. And let’s not even touch the topic of sewing. My daughter can tell you about some disasters I tried to get her to wear. Rolling eyes and that “ Come on, Mom!” look. You get the idea.
However, my life up here on the hill has helped me learn one of life’s lessons. Not everything has to be done at a rapid-fire pace. And good things happen when they are meant to happen. I took a short walk down to the glade on the west side of my hill this afternoon. I looked and looked for familiar flowers that I see this time of year. And with patience, I found them, clustered in small groups, vibrant with color, small but mighty, facing the frost of the last few mornings, still there and blooming. Patience.
I looked up at the sky. Who has time to look up when you’re concentrating on getting this job or that task done? Guilty as charged. Hanging out the clothes this morning, I stopped and really looked at the April sky. How can any sky be bluer than a spring-kissed one? Thin clouds added mystery to the picture. They seemed to say, “Just wait and see what comes next. You won’t believe it.”
Patience. That’s all it takes. Slow down. Let life come and surprise you.  
It’s worth the wait.