Patience is a Practice
Virtue: noun. Behavior showing high moral standards.
There is a saying I am sure that you have heard a gazillion times… “patience is a virtue”. And if you've been here a while, you know that I like to take old sayings and throw them in the trash. Or at a minimum, take them apart to find the most useful, juicy pieces and then throw the stained and crusty bits away. So today I'd like to take the best part of that old colloquialism and make it new and actually useful. Patience is nutrient dense and oh-so-needed at this time in my (and everyone's) life. High moral standards? Crusty bits. No thank you.
Patience is the ability to wait, and to breathe while doing so. Patience is an understanding that there are people other than ourselves involved in any process, and that we are not the actual center of the universe no matter how much it feels like we are. Patience is pausing to allow the full story to unfold. Patience, in my opinion, is one of the closest things we have to God, which means it is the furthest thing from what comes naturally to us as humans. Therefore, patience is not some high moral standard to which we should judge ourselves and others. Patience is a daily practice of breath and trust and love.
Pete and I are under contract with our house, which was supposed to close at the end of September. Our buyers are lovely folks who just happen to live in Florida. First Helene pushed us back, then Milton. Thankfully, and most importantly, everyone involved is safe and all things are moving ahead as quickly as they can for unprecedented times. If this were happening a year ago, I would be a total train wreck. Today, however, after working a program and leaning heavily on my practice of patience and faith, I am at peace. I know, without a doubt, that everything is working FOR me, no matter how it appears on the surface. So this must be, too. I know that one day when we finally get to meet our buyers, we will laugh and cry and laugh some more about these past two weeks. And in the meantime, there is literally no point in trying to control something that I cannot. The practice of patience is an allowing of peace. I am grateful for this knowledge and all of the experience I have had up until this point that taught me so.
