Day 91 of Your Year to Wellness; The Power of Patience

Time Heals all Wounds

I am giddy with excitement about today’s post. I am that way most of the time, but I actually had to apply the principle of today’s lesson and wait to write this.

In my past, I was not a person with much patience; most of us are not. We live in a time when everything is instant. We want our food, weight loss and even education fast. We want medical treatments that are instant without a care about all of the instant side-effects. We want to be slim in 30 days never caring that if you lose weight quickly, you will gain it the same way.

I was one of those do-it-now people. I grew up with my mother’s contradictions; one moment we were told not to put off to tomorrow what could be done today and the next we heard that “Rome was not built in a day.”

It took me years to understand that my mother’s lessons were not a contradiction at all. She had grown up on a farm and she knew the very powerful lesson that requires that you to do the work now and everyday allowing time, nature, life and God to work together rewarding your work with an abundant harvest.

Yesterday, I stood looking out at my back yard. I look at it every day when I’m at home. The yard is on the marsh and the birds and butterflies really like it there. (So do other creatures and bugs but let’s not talk about those.) Yesterday as I stood watching a duo of heron fly by in what seemed like slow motion, my mind went back to when I first moved here. The yard looked nothing like it does now. It took 14 huge truckloads of dirt to level the yard. There was no pool, fence, hedges—heck there was no grass.

When we moved to this house my mother was sick and we needed to find a place that could accommodate our large family; one that had space enough for a separate apartment for my mother’s at-home care in the event she needed it. When we viewed the house the first time, I passed on it for something closer to town. I could see the house’s potential even though there were 6 drooling bull dogs and a confederate flag hanging as decoration.

When my sis Jeanine and I first looked at it, we did not see it as it was, we saw it as it could be.  “That’s your house sister.” Jeanine said to me. (We all need someone who can see our dreams with us; someone who has hope for our success.)

I worried about distance and steps and all of the other things you try to imagine that could be wrong so I passed on the house for another. But when my mom got sicker and required home care, we needed a bigger place and so I renewed my search. This house was back on the market and I was elated to find that even though the market had swelled at that time, the owners were willing to sale at the original asking price. The husband and wife said that they had discussed it and when they first met us, they felt that God wanted my family to live here. I was thinking, “Really, you don’t have to put God in the mix, we want the house.” But after living in this special place, I can feel what they meant.

Once we got here, I had to care for my mom and do the necessary renovations without causing any interruptions to her care. We did a great deal of work before moving in and waited to take on the “ugly” yard after we were here. I felt like things were taking forever and my mother kept telling me about how long it took to build Rome.

Well, you’ve seen the pictures. Yesterday when I caught a glimpse of the past, I remembered how I felt when the work was being done. I thought that things were moving too slowing and that there had been no progress. But when I looked it yesterday I realized that the yard had become what I had envisioned. I searched and found the old before pictures and I wept with joy for all that had occurred.

You may feel that you are progressing and transforming too slowly. Total wellness does not happen fast. It takes dedication, work and it takes time. When something is done the right way, it will last.

Remember, you did not get here in 30 days so give yourself the time you need to be well. When you do, you will be rewarded with an amazing transformation.

Wellness does not happen overnight; it happens every night.

Be you, be well, Be Patient

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Ordeer the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey today