Slowly, slowly, they return
To the small woodland let alone;
Great trees, outspreading and upright,
Apostles of the living light.
Patient as stars,they build in air
Tier after tier a timbered choir,
Stout beams upholding weightless grace
Of song, a blessing on this place.
They stand in waiting all around,
Uprisings of their native ground,
Downcomings of the distant light;
They are the advent they await.
Wendell Berry, from A Timbered Choir
It takes a long time for a seed to grow from a sapling into a towering tree. It stands and patiently waits as year after year, it's roots slowly grow deeper into the ground and its arms, branch by branch, reach up higher towards the sky, until one day, some mysterious moment in time is reached and its canopy is a green cloud. Time in the Real World is measured in seasons and weather patterns and the slant of the sun, the migration of the birds. Each thing happens in the natural world when it is ready, whether it is a seed to sprout, the rivers to rise, or a baby to be born. People who live close to the land quickly learn patience from their own exposure to these natural laws.
For most of us though time is quite different. We no longer live close to the earth and time has become a commodity. We sell it, manage it, multi-task it, feel terrible if we waste it and definitely are not patient with it. We have become so possessive of it we are now some of the most impatient people on earth. If we are made to wait, then we are insulted, believing our time is more valuable than another person's. We can no longer see patience is an act of respect and faith. We have forgotten that having patience is a willingness to wait because we understand there is another more important time present in the world besides the one we keep track of on our cell phones and computers and calendars. As the year winds down in the flurry of holiday preparations and we find ourselves feeling even more burdened and anxious, perhaps we can remember the tall trees just outside. They are still there, standing with their arms in the air, quietly, willingly, waiting. Maybe then we could take a deep breath, let out a big sigh and open our hearts to receive their gift.
