pa·tience ˈpāSHəns noun 1. the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
Otis Redding, in his song, Sitting on the dock of the Bay, talks about how he left his home in Georgia and headed for the San Francisco Bay, because he had nothing to live for. He talks about his loneliness and how he’s wasting time, one day looking just like every other day. How sad.
I can relate.
But today, I get to thank my God and my very lucky stars that I am changed. And every single day looks amazing!
Patience is a virtue. Who hasn’t heard those words? The words themselves are deeply embedded in our thoughts, but the behavior – the actual practice of patience – is another character trait that has fallen by the wayside in society today. Our hurried, overscheduled culture in which everything must happen immediately is taking its toll on our willingness to be patient and work things out. Instead, we often spend minutes or even hours, several times a day in a state of impatience because things are not happening fast enough. We want to get it done…now!
Yeah, I’d really like to get all of the work still needing to be done on the Happy Destiny done right now-Today. But, the reality is that this all just takes time. One day, at a time. We have accomplished so much in 49 days. If I am in acceptance of this fact, then I can be patient. I can breathe.
Jim and I were in traffic yesterday. We were a bit pissed. We wanted to get somewhere. We wanted to know why there was traffic. “There is never traffic here”. In Los Angeles there is always traffic. If you want to have any peace in your life, you must have patience. You accept things for exactly what they are. You leave a little early. You listen to audiobooks for your 2 hour drive to go 20 miles. You take short cuts. You laugh when the traffic was caused by someone’s suitcase falling off their car and the contents of clothing are scattered all over the road. We were impatient. I even said “can you take the freeway to get to Sarasota” ( just to avoid some traffic). He took a short cut. Which, because we were impatient, just took us around in a circle and landed us right back in the traffic. Imagine that! 😂
Today, I will practice patience. I will be right here, right now. I will remember where I came from. I will utilize my time being constructive. I will forgive the people who are not about what they say. I will relish in the knowledge that I am one of the luckiest girls I know. I have my faith. I have my sobriety. I have my Jim. My children and grandchildren are happy. There is great joy coming to Jim’s son and our daughter in law.
Yes, the view is the same every day from the sundeck of our boat. Green leaves, a seashell parking lot. Birds singing, squirrels eating my grapes. Sun tea brewing, music playing, another trip to the hardware store, a roof over my head, a comfy bed to sleep in. A man who loves me. I don’t have to punch a time clock. I don’t even know what time it is. I have everything I want. Everything I need.
front yard-backyard
One day, real soon, we will toss our lines and we will be someplace else. The view will be different but my gratitude will remain the same. I will thank my God that I’m not the girl I used to be- just wasting time.
❤️
