Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
The farmer has patience and trusts the process. He just has the faith and deep understanding that through his daily efforts, the harvest will come. And then one day, almost out of nowhere, it does.
― Robin Sharma
Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.
― Robert H. Shuller
A poppy seed lays patiently in wait like a lost treasure at sea. Then, when conditions are just right, the seedling is suddenly ‘found’, and bursts forth to begin its journey of life.
Tipping its head above the horizon, the new seedling mounts an impressive assault against gravity, sprinting gloriously upward towards its lucky star hovering seemingly overhead.
Consuming, breathing, and organizing evermore, until one day it arrives at its destination. The one place to which all the proceeding activities were leading.
As with the zillion generations preceding her, it’s here and now when the poppy plant produces its crowning achievement—its entire purpose is to produce the seeds that will grow into new seedlings for the next generation. Having achieved its fateful mission, the poppy plant quietly wilts and passes back to the ground from which it arose.
The journey of a poppy plant reflects so much of how the universe works. All things are headed toward something significant and meaningful, their very own destiny.
However the poppy plant didn’t know where it was going. It heads where it needs to go but without ever knowing that the journey to its destination is its duty to help ensure the success of the species.
Our lives are no different. We don’t often have the answer right off or know where we are necessarily headed, but if we wait and trust in our good intentions, all the events and uncertainties in our life will lead us exactly where they need to take us to find their purpose and meaning. Whether it’s a decision, a dialogue, a new career path, or a personal long-term plan, the rhythm of the universe is teaching us the virtue of being patient in order for all things to have the time they need and deserve to develop and mature to something beautiful, right, balanced, and enduring.