Aren't gifts tons of fun? You never know what you are going to get, sometimes that is a good thing...other times not so good. This Christmas my brother-in-laws both got one of those gifts that can drive you crazy. They got a "snow globe" type thing filled with some liquid and there was a golf tee and golf ball in it. The "goal" was to float the ball up on the tee. But I think the only thing it did was cause every would be victor to just go insane.
My brother-in-law, Andrew, took his newly acquired game back to Austin and the next day we got an email from him. The subject of the email was patience and the photo you see here was attached. Part of his message said "all good things come to those who wait ... after just 12 hours of concentrated effort, i have redeemed my sanity." We had fun with this, but there was a very important concept that I was reminded of.
My brother-in-law accurately pointed out that it took an immense amount of patience to accomplish this golf ball task, and it did. But noticed what he said in his email. "After just 12 hours of concentrated effort." During this time of patience Andrew was active.
I have run into many people who have told me they are "waiting for their chance." But as they are waiting they are completely still, not moving, not growing. Life often requires that we are patient, but are we active in that patience. As we start this new year...make sure your patience is filled with much activity.
I love your idea of "active patience!" I've often felt that some people use patience as an excuse for inaction. They sit around doing nothing and say they are being patient when they are, in fact, being lazy.
On the other hand, I'm often accused of being impatient when I'm actually demonstrating "concentrated effort." I'm willing to wait for success but I'm going to do my best to make it happen. Excellent post.
Posted by: David Rendall | January 04, 2008 at 11:58 AM