An update on Growth (and the patience it requires)

At the beginning of the year I chose a word (or mantra) that I would focus on and apply throughout different aspects of my life: growth. I can say that with all the growing I'm trying to do, I kind of forgot about one of the most important aspects of growth in a healthy way: patience. Just like with a garden, growth of the personal kind take time. It takes nurturing and plenty of water and good sunlight. You check the soil day in and day out, with nothing to show for your effort then one day you see it - the  little green bud that proves you can do it. In many areas, my bud is still underground, soaking in the sun and the water and getting itself ready for life in the harsh open air. But, sometimes I forget that. Sometimes, I see friends, family, even strangers, taking the steps I want to take. Their plants blooming and blossoming in ways my little bud can only dream of. I think - why can't that be me? Why can't I be the one buying the house? Adding to my family. But then I remember. It's not my timeline, it's His.

Throughout the last few months I've been focusing on ways that I have grown instead of ways that I haven't. Ways that I've improved my own life instead of how others have grown theirs. I have a wonderful husband who came with a great set of in laws. We have two precious kitties, who we love and spoil (probably a little more than we care to admit.)  I have to remind myself, constantly, to be patient. To remember that just because my blooms haven't blossomed yet, that they're getting ready to. They're still under the soil, soaking in all their nutrients and spreading their roots before they peep up to say hello. Did you choose a mantra for 2015? How are you using it in your day to day life?