By Dr. Jimmy Braswell
Chaplain, Home Hospice of Odessa
Along with the changing of the seasons and all of its beauty, is a mystery which we contemplate four times a year.
That mystery is the changing of the seasons and the time involved. It takes time to plant, nurture, and grow a garden. It takes time for the seasons to change.
It takes time for any injury, physical or emotional, to heal. It takes time for fruit and vegetables to ripen. It takes time to grow up from a child to adulthood. It takes time to develop a skill. It takes time to learn a new thing.
The mystery that God created things to take time is a unique characteristic of life on this planet. Time takes time and so we have to give everything and everybody time. In that time, the waiting is difficult.
Learning to be patient with time is hard. We want things and satisfaction when we want it and we don’t want to wait. But the waiting is valuable and rewarding. Who has not impatiently waited for a piece of fruit to ripen, or a body part to heal, or a friend to forgive, and ultimately tried to pick the fruit or rush the relationship or use the yet unhealed body part and made things worse or was disappointed with the unpleasant taste of unripened fruit.
There is reward in patience and giving things time. The delicious fruit or vegetable, the full use of the body part, or the welcomed sweetness of a relationship restored. I don’t know why God created all things to take time, but let’s practice “taking the time.” In His time God does all things beautiful (Eccl. 3). In fact, why don’t you take time to think of this article, sleep on it, give it a day or so and let it ripen in your mind. If you’re unhappy, sad, dissatisfied, and resentful — give it some time and things will be different.
