Where Patience Grows

When it comes to patience, I’m not likely to win any awards. The only exception is the time I spend in my garden.

I thoroughly enjoy the wait for each perennial plant to bloom. It’s like I’m standing at the gate of an amusement park on opening day. For me, the excitement begins in April when bunches of daffodils pop up to greet me.

I’m always taken by surprise since I add more perennials every year and then forget where I planted them. So it’s a bit like Christmastime – April through September – as old favorites and new additions sprout, each in their own way and in their own time.

Wouldn’t it be fun to start a tradition with children, at home or in school, of planting perennials that will show up every year? The process of planting, waiting and reaping can be a welcome reminder that good things take time and investment.

Children will see how each individual contributes greatly and uniquely to something bigger and more beautiful than one could ever accomplish alone. Just like different colors make up a rainbow and different children make up a class, different plants make up a garden.

Why not set time aside each day for your little one to spend outside in his garden where patience and appreciation grows? He might even become more patient with himself when he realizes that nothing in nature blooms all year.