Patience – And the Bamboo Tree
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Waiting for spring to finally arrive has me thinking a lot lately about “patience” and how hard it is sometime to wait. The final vestiges of winter held on tightly leading us to wonder if spring would come at all this year - although certainly we know it would eventually – but we didn’t want to wait any longer. Similarly, our country’s economic status has also tested our ability to wait patiently for good news and better days ahead. Having patience in good times is hard enough, having patience in uncertain times can seem unbearable.
Recently a colleague in the midst of job search shared with me the story of the Chinese bamboo tree as a lesson in patience. It seems that once a bamboo seedling has been planted, the gardener will lovingly care for it, water it, tend to it, making sure it has proper sunlight to grow. Yet even after a year’s time, the plant will look the same with no visible growth at all. Even after the second, third and fourth year of watering, tending and caring for the tree it will look the same. Suddenly, as if by magic, in the fifth year it will begin to grow. In fact, it will grow two and a half feet a day until in six weeks it will reach ninety feet. Why this sudden growth? This sudden growth occurs because during its first five years it develops miles and miles of roots beneath the ground. Though no growth is visible, the foundation has been established and strengthened making the extraordinary growth possible.
Life is often like growing a Chinese bamboo tree. Sometimes it is discouraging. We seemingly do things right yet nothing happens. We pay the price, prepare the soil, plant and water yet nothing happens. There can come a point when we would like to just give up and forget about it. However, take heart in remembering that just as with the bamboo tree, all of the growth has been underground. The roots we have been nurturing have created an extensive network that will sustain and nurture our explosive growth. Like the gardener, be patient, do things right, don’t give up and rewards will follow!
