This week a friend of mine posted this quote: “Don’t waste the season of life you are in now because you want the next one to come.”
From a young age, I think all of us at one time or another have been guilty of that. I can’t wait until I go to school. I can’t wait until I’m in high school. I can’t wait until I can drive. I can’t wait until I go to college. I can’t wait until I’m out on my own and get to make my own rules. I can’t wait until I’m married. I can’t wait…….
But, do we ever really outgrow that temptation? No, I don’t think we do. I can’t wait until I get that promotion at work. I can’t until I have kids. I can’t wait until we go on vacation. I can’t wait until we can afford a better car. I can’t wait until we have a bigger house. I can’t wait…….
And of course that bleeds over into our homesteading life. I can’t wait until I have my own land. I can’t wait until I can get chickens. I can’t wait until I can plant a garden. I can’t wait until I have a bigger homestead. I can’t wait until I have a milk cow. I can”t wait until spring. I can’t wait until summer. I can’t wait until fall. I can’t wait……
Now, I am certainly not saying that goals, dreams, ambitions are bad things. I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t plan for the future. But, we also need to be careful that we aren’t so forward looking that we fail to live in the moment. That we miss out on the joys of today. That we waste the season we are in because we long for the next.
Isn’t it funny that we never learn from our mistakes in this area? Is there one of us that at some point hasn’t longed for the carefree days of our youth? Periodically a photo memory will pop up on Facebook of my son and a sense of nostalgia washes over me and I long to go back to that day for a split second.
While I think the temptation to wish away a day is always present, it is certainly more prevalent when things aren’t going right. Perhaps you’re struggling to find fulfillment in your career. Or your kids are in the terrible twos. Or you have a mouthy teenager. Or maybe you’re having marital problems. Or maybe the car broke down Again. Or maybe you’ve had a bad run with pigs dying. Or maybe the coyotes got in your chicken run. Or maybe the seeds you planted didn’t grow. Or…….. And we are tempted to say, “I can’t wait……”
Friend, I get that life is sometimes hard. I’m certainly not trying to minimize or trivialize the pain or the trauma that you might be going through right now. Sometimes life sucks. But, even when it does, it can serve to make us stronger, more resilient people. And if we allow that to happen, even those sucky seasons of life are not wasted.
Until next week, keep up the good work.
Brian
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