"...For with wisdom cometh patience, And with patience cometh rest..."

This week, I am reading the poem The Hardest Time of All, by Sarah Doudney. Written in 1896.

Reflection Questions:

• Where are you waiting for some major change to occur as a result of your work?  Is it time to gain more wisdom or to be more patient or to stop and rest in that area?

• Will you take the time to document your hopes for change in the coming year and then schedule an email to send that reflection to yourself in a year as a way to see that those hardest times of waiting was when the change was actually occurring?

Reflection on the poem:

This week, I attended our statewide Association of Fundraising Professionals conference, just to sit in the audience and learn.  A recurring theme was perseverance in small daily tasks that will yield fruit.  Our work does take patience in order to see change. Whatever your faith tradition, let’s take a moment to reflect on wisdom, patience, and rest as it works itself out in faith. 

With wisdom comes patience and patience comes rest.  If we stop and reflect on the changes that have occurred in the last year, in those moments, those changes would have seemed minuscule filled with times of waiting.  Yet, after a year of those tasks - making calls, sending emails, writing thank you notes - I am confident that you can look back and see major changes just as the poem - we must wait for the blossoms to fall in order to gather the fruit. And now, the hardest time of all - or should I say, the hardest time in the next few months is to continue to actively wait for breakthroughs and major changes.  But, in wisdom, patience, perseverance, and rest, we see the real difference we are making.

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Music credit: Woeisuhmebop