Patience and persistence Friday Five

I also most didn't do this week's Friday Five because I still have not finished a loooonnngg rambling post form about 3 weeks ago... but I decided this was a good one to jump back into the blogging fray...


Sally from RevGalBlogPals writes:

As I write this I can see out over our newly set up veggie plot from my study window. When Tim and I moved here in August last year he set to work clearing the ground, this spring I began planting seeds indoors and out, and now the beds are full of leaf and promise. We have harvested some spinach and lettuce, but still have to wait for the main crops....

Patience is something that sometimes comes easy and sometimes doesn't, in the case of the garden it is easy, I can see the growth and know that waiting will produce good results. With other things patience is more difficult....

Along with looking forward to eating our own veggies, we are also looking forward to seeing four of our children graduate with Bachelors degrees this year, they have worked hard over the three years and stuck at it through some difficult stuff. It would have been easy for them to give up, but they haven't...

Persistence often pays off, but we need to be aware that it sometimes turns into sheer pig headed-ness...

With all that in mind I offer you this Friday Five:

1. Is patience a virtue you possess? If it is then does it come naturally, if not how do you/ did you work at it?
Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha....!!!!!!!!!!  Um. That would be no. I don't try to work on it, but as I go through life, I am challenged to live in a way that requires I develop more and more of it.  What's that old saying?  "Don't pray for patience, pray for grace."



2. Being patient with ourselves can be a huge challenge, we are often our own worst critics; is there anything you need to be patient with yourself with at the moment?
Re-learning how to be wife, mom, friend, etc since my studies are over and I "only" have real life to deal with on a daily basis. I'm in a time of transition and adjustment, and I need to extend grace to myself...

3. Are you the kind of person who can/ will persist with a difficult task? How much of this is personality related?
If my family were to read that over my shoulder, there would be loud guffaws. It IS the way I was wired to push through and get it done. When I procrastinate or let things slide, it causes me so much internal stress that I am motivated to release that stress!!!

Case in point... from the Zits web archive...

4. Can you spot when persistence turns into pig-headed-ness, or do you never get there?
No I get there plenty of times. Usually after the fact, I figure out when the optimal time to "let it go" would have been. I think I am getting better in this regard.


5. Post a song or a poem that chills you out and helps you to re-group, re-focus and carry on?
I believe the wise sage, Shel Silverstein has a great perspective:

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,

Listen to the DON'TS

Listen to the SHOULDN'TS

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS

Listen to the NEVER HAVES

Then listen close to me--

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.

Bonus, a picture or a photo that speaks to you of patience or persistence....

This was taken on the South Fork of the Potomac River (near Dolly Sod, West Virginia)