Patience and Wisdom...

Back in 2009, when I decided to try the blogging thing, I chose the picture below to accompany every posting. I find it a funny photo...also an insightful one.

The picture is titled Patience and Wisdom. The dog is smart to employ both...maybe he has learned from experience.

Eight years into this blogging thing, I decided to address this picture and why it was and still is important to me.

Full disclosure: I am not always in full possession of either Patience or Wisdom. They remain, however, worthy goals.

Here goes...We start with an old story.

Legend teaches that each morning when we wake,
we are given the world to care for. 

And each night as we go to sleep we must return it. 

When we do, The Creator asks us, “What did you do with my world today?
Did you add to it…or diminish it?”

I would suggest that to "add to" this world
You and I need (at least) to be Patient and Wise.


You and I are Patient and Wise...
When we forgive
 and seek forgiveness…even in…
maybe most especially in

our most near and common relationships;
When we let go of resentments…

release grievances and self-pities and jealousies

that only weigh down our souls;
When we release our need to control every outcome…

realize that we cannot control other people…

realize that we can only influence…
and the best way to do that is with love.

You and I are Patient and Wise...
When we choose grace over judgment…

choose mercy over self-justification and entitlement;
When we are able to see beyond our needs and desires…

to perceive our complicity and responsibility

in the basic survival of millions far away

and neighbors nearby;
When we let our light shine…
use the gifts we’ve been given

and take advantage of the opportunities before us;
When we choose gratitude over complaint
peace over disharmony
hope over despair
and life-giving over death-dealing.

You and I are Patient and Wise...
When we cease worrying about what we will become…

and instead are concerned about who we will become;
When we choose carefully those with whom we surround ourselves...
pay attention to that which we pursue with all our heart
all our soul and all our might...
and to what compromises we are willing to make in that pursuit;

When we make those compromises judiciously and sparingly...
because when they all add up
we may become someone we do not recognize;
When we realize the who we will become is determined
in large part not by what we acquire, but by what we give…
mostly by how we give of ourselves;
When we make it a habit to give back to our neighborhood
and our world.


Patience and Wisdom. Yeah, that.