lady in waiting

We wouldn't dare break an egg before it is ready to hatch. Nor would we ever dream of pulling open a blossom. No one who wants to see a butterfly would think of tearing open a cocoon. When it comes to the wonders of nature, there is honor given to the waiting. We plant seeds and know there is a period when all the growth is happening below the surface. We know that we must continue to water the seed even though we see no change. The seed must continue to get sun and nutrients even though we can't enjoy the plants beauty or function. If we were to dig up the seed in order to see for ourselves the changes that are being made, we'd ruin it. The seed would hardly stand a chance of survival after being uprooted. It is a given that things take time and the process must not be disturbed. Things take place without our eyes being able to see the inner workings and yet we trust that with the right conditions the egg will hatch, the butterfly with fly, and the flower will bloom.

 One of my favorite quotes says, "Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods." The element of waiting and surprise and the unseen all increase the wonder of things of nature. If we didn't have to wait for the transformation of a caterpillar, would it be as marvelous to see a butterfly take flight? Yet when it comes to our own lives, we want to skip over the waiting period. We are annoyed with the situations that must brew and simmer for awhile. We want to rip open tightly closed blossoms instead of waiting for them to bloom when they are ready. In a world of instant gratification, we are not primed to wait. We want it now. In a society that is constantly bombarded with images, we don't believe something is happening without visual proof. There are windows on our microwaves. But just like a seed that is growing underground, many of the best things in life take shape unseen. And so we wait, most of the time begrudgingly.

 How would our attitudes change if we were to look at situations that require patient waiting as something beautiful and mysterious? What if we take a cue from the natural world and respect the fact that heaven knows what it's doing, and begin to understand the precious price of those things in which we must wait for? We are all waiting for things to come to fruition, some obvious, some much more personal. We must learn to see the value in the waiting. We must respect the internal, unseen growth. We must resist the urge to try to control or rush a process that is as delicate as a flower. We must be content with the fact that we may not see evidence of any change until life sprouts out from the dirt.