Becoming - From Fruit to Root

Many years ago, I had the pleasure of buying my first house. Nothing fancy. A starter home. But, for me, it was a mansion. I never expected to live in my own home. With my own basketball goal. With my own yard. I was young and excited about playing "grown up".

Ooohhh…the yard. I never thought I'd be so excited to cut grass. But, I was because it was MY grass. And I knew just enough about yards to be dangerous.

After assessing my new yard with my neophyte knowledge, I determined that I needed to get some seed to fill in some patches. $100 dollars later with a trunk full of seed and gardening tools, I set out on a mission. I worked. I sowed.

I. Was. Exhausted. But the seeds were planted. And so I was proud. It was the next morning when I got a major reality check.

I ran to the window like a little kid running at the whimsical sound of the neighborhood ice cream truck. I switched open my blinds and stared in excitement.

Guess what I saw? Nothing. It looked exactly like it did the day before..

In the background I heard my newlywed husband chuckling beyond control. “Kelly, you are not going to see it grow overnight. It takes time."

In his chuckles and in my innocent embarrassment of my unrealistic expectations, the profoundness of his statement settled in.

“You are not going to see it grow overnight. It takes time."

We live in a fast-paced society. Quick fixes. Immediate expectations. But it was there standing in my living room in my pajamas that I realized the error of my thinking.

Everything that is good and lasting in our lives needs time to take root. Roots that are firmly planted and nurtured. A daily process of watering to promote growth. A process of becoming a new thing.  

Fruit can’t be fruit without root.  We cannot sow and harvest at the same time. It is a process. And we can't skip the steps. And we can’t rush them.

What are you sowing in your life? Some of us are not sure what to plant or where to plant it. If that is you, I offer you a leadership principle from Stephen Covey - “Begin with the End in Mind".  

So, what fruit do you envision in your life? Now, work backwards. What do you need to sow that fruit? What do you need in order for it to take root in your life?

Once you have clarity on your end game, it is equally as challenging to be patient with yourself as you cultivate from root to fruit.  It is a process. You are a process. You are becoming your best self.