I blogged last week that I planted my bonsai trees on January 1 and it could take them up to three years to be what we typically think of as a bonsai tree.
I started this journey with great anticipation and hope; new things are always more exciting in the beginning. Since then, I have been doing the very ordinary work of watering them on a daily basis. As I was doing this the other day, I had this thought:
I water these seeds even though I physically can not see any evidence that they exist. I know I planted them, but there is no plant yet. No small, green and delicate sapling popping through the soil.
I water it with the hope that new life is just on the underside of that soil. I water knowing it is needed for life. In other words, I water knowing that if that if do not water, then no life will appear.
And this is why we don’t change: the new practices we participate in to bring about change often do not show immediate results.
And since we don’t see the immediate results, we quit doing the practices.
The practices are the water that brings life.
No water, no life.
And some of us know this reality in the deep in our hearts, and we know that change will require a lot of watering before we see the results we aspire to. We know the road will be long and it will be a grind. And this is why some of us don’t even start.
So I ask you today – if you have given up on the things that you planted/planned/resolved to do in 2019, is it because you have not seen the results yet?
Will the results happen if you keep on participating in the practices that will bring change?
And if you have been sitting on the sidelines of change, knowing it will take time – then get in the seed game. Get the soil. Plant the seed. Water. Water again, and again and again….
I encourage you, seeds take time to grow. They take consistent watering and care. We can do this and we are called to this.
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