We recently visited a Japanese garden. We spent all day admiring the beautiful landscapes and amazing areas. As we left later in the afternoon, I noticed how the shadow of this tree fit perfectly within the boundaries of the Zen garden. Someone had to think with a great deal of forethought, planning, and patience to get the positioning just right. This forethought and purpose are one of the traits I admire about the Japanese culture. As I walked around this space I thought about the patience involved. The vision a group of people had to have in order leave such a lasting legacy for generations to come. The time spent planning and planting was very well spent.
The first week of the new year is nearly over, and if your year has taken off it may be difficult to allow time for planning instead of filling your hours with doing. The tree in this photo reminded me that someone planted something small, planned for it to get much larger, and waited patiently for time to work it’s magic. They designed and decided which tree to plant, then planned the entire space around it.
You may be planting seeds that seem small and insignificant. You may be planning, and planning, and then doing some more planning for something that may take a while to come to fruition. If this tree is any reminder, the time you spend planning and preparing will yield an amazing result. Sometimes planning seems like the easy part, being patient is the hard part. Your efforts now will grow into something for generations to come. So be willing to take the time to plan, be patient, and know that your investments will pay off.
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