The process of being still for the magic is just as important as the effort we put into reaching it.
As we strive towards our North Star, or what we deem to be our purpose in life, it is easy to feel deflated or less than because of how far we may feel we are from achieving the thing (or set of things) that are on our list of goals. Speaking for myself, it’s been a struggle of late—there has been so much work into my 38 years of living that is directly correlated to reaping what I’ve sown. I use language like “harvesting” and “seeds” a lot; language that is very much interchangeable with “blessing.” This language tends to be directly tied to religion and spirituality, with seeds being the groundwork: the emails, the meetings and classes, the networking (or as I like to call it, “village building”)—essentially the things we are doing in order to get us from point A to point B. Some identify with journey more so than process, but the idea remains the same—the seeds are the work required to help us reap our harvest.
The harvest is the outcome. Now, the outcome doesn’t have to be our purpose per se, but rather it can be viewed as a pivotal step in reaching our goal. The harvest gets to be a reflection of the seeds we’ve planted over the weeks, months, and years. This can be related to a specific project, that is service of some micro-goal set (I want to lose weight by the end of June 2021) or part of a larger, macro-goal we are aiming for (I want to be a healthier, more fit person by the end of 2021.) —which are just ways for us to reference an outcome. But with all this talk about the work we’re doing for the blessing, it’s easy to forget how much of that is also the waiting, or really, the process in between.
When planting seeds, there are seasons of drought. Farmers who are familiar with their land, who have been tilling the soil, are cognizant of the shifts in weather and seasonality that affect their crops. We, as human beings going about our daily lives as parents, partners, friends and lovers, are no different. There are periods of time when we are not working, but waiting—waiting on the promotion, waiting on the acceptance letter, waiting on that special trip—and it can feel like the work has been for naught as time continues to pass. But, this is when faith in the process becomes paramount. Not only is faith without work improbable, faith without patience can lead to our suffering.
There are seasons in nature: flowers bloom; the sun rises and sets; water flows. Working for and waiting on our blessings is no different of a process. Our faith is the trust in the process of the nature of seasons. It is the idea that the outcome, the magic, the blessings we are waiting on are all directly aligned with the intention and love we’ve put into the seeds we’ve planted. There is no and/or option when it comes to our blessings. We must both work for and wait on the things that have been identified as objectives we are trying to accomplish.
In reality, the journey—between the planting of the seeds to the reaping of our harvest—can be as long or as short as it needs to be. Unfortunately, we can’t control that. What we can control is the faith and work that we put in and also the patience needed to wait for it to come into fruition. We must work—and wait—for the good. We must trust in the process that leads us to where we want to be.
Joél Leon is a father, dreamer and storyteller. Follow him @joelleon.
