Not All Flowers

“Not all the flowers of a tree bear fruit.” (Mauritania)

Sometimes we do everything we think we should. We work hard. We exercise. We eat better. Still, no change comes. We are still broke or overweight or fighting with high blood pressure. We didn’t get that raise. We didn’t impress our doctor (or heaven help us, our friends) with our new healthy lifestyle. Perhaps we started a new relationship and vowed to not make the same mistakes we made in the past and yet it seems to be going in the same direction. We get angry. Bitter. “I did everything right! Why is this happening?”

You did do everything right. The things you had hoped for are nearly in your grasp—the flowers have bloomed and all it takes is to be pollinated. That’s where the divine steps in. Patience. There’s another proverb I heard as a child: man plans, God laughs. We cannot control our world, even when we feel we must. There is no way to shape our world, not when it is the role of the divine. When it is time, you will have fruit. Not one moment sooner. However, I can promise you, that fruit will be so very sweet and the flowers will be fragrant.