Oh, there is a germination period?

Yesterday, I caught up with a friend and much of our conversation was centered on the topic of needing more patience. She and I have wants, like we all do. Yet, sometimes we are so eager to capture our wants, that we settle for desires not yet manifested, rather than waiting for them to reach their full potential. This reminds me of a quote that simply says, “Don’t trade what you want most, for what you want now.”

Almost always, the best is yet to come.

Since it is spring, gardening has been a focus of many. A number of friends have been telling me all they are planting this year. I have been considering how applicable the act of gardening is to having more patience in all things.

Nearly every moment, we plant seeds of desire. We express what we want to others, and quietly to ourselves. Into the fertile soil of manifestation they go. Unfortunately, what ends up happening, is we don’t tend to and nurture our desires with incremental care. We don’t allow ourselves to witness the growth of our wants in their own time. Rather, we hover over them, wondering why in the heck they are taking so long to bloom!

As I’ve been pondering this life application, a picture popped into my mind that made me laugh. There I was, having just planted watermelon seeds. Not a second passed, and I was already standing over the tiny mound with hands on my hips, saying hurry up plant, become fruit already!

We do this in life…A lot! We forget there is a germination period.

Also, we witness aspects of our desires coming into reality, but when they don’t manifest quickly, we think all is lost. We believe something went wrong, or that we made a mistake. Yet, just like a budding plant, it is going to show growth incrementally. First we will see its stem, then some leaves, and perhaps a tiny blossom. Just because we cannot yet see the fruit, does not mean it is not still forthcoming.

Similarly in life, seeing bits and pieces of our desires take shape without a complete manifestation does not not mean we planted the wrong seeds, or that our soil is infertile. It just means, there has not yet been enough time for our desires to germinate.

It may sound trite, but it is true…timing is everything.

The best thing we can do to access the fullest expression of our desires is to be patient, and trust in the process. We must not hurry that which needs time to actualize, nor settle on unripened fruit. Planting our seeds of desire, and then incrementally appreciating glimpses of their growth, will lead us to that exciting moment of harvest more gracefully. And in doing so, we won’t let the sweet nectar of life go untapped while we wait.

 

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